There was a strong outcry last year: "Stop the short selling. It's killing the market." Short sellers were blatantly selling short and then "failing to deliver the stock."
So what exactly was happening? First of all, in order to sell short (sell something you don't have) you must first borrow it from someone else. Usually there are willing lenders at large brokerage houses. What you are trying to do is to sell the stock first and replace it a lower price later on (that is if the market goes your way -- down).
Last year we saw traders selling short without first borrowing the stock. Then, when the buy trade to replace it was executed, there was no stock to deliver. Remember, they were supposed to borrow it first. This is called a "fail to deliver" trade. Former SEC commissioner Roel Campos wrote a letter and posted it on the SEC's website saying: "these companies are instead targets of illegal and manipulative trading with intentional failures to deliver used by traders to extract profits as the share price plummets."
Will Rich Ross really have a positive impact on Disney's movie operations?
Consumers sick of recession, may spend extra on holidays
Corrections, seasonality and Santa Claus
