Paper: Fails to Deliver: The Price Impact of Naked Short Sales

Paper

Fails to Deliver: The Price Impact of Naked Short Sales

Elizabeth Stone

Stanford University, 27 September 2010

The effect of naked short selling on asset prices and trading dynamics is a prominent topic of debate among market participants, regulators, and the popular press. This paper evaluates the validity of the claim that naked shorting leads to negative excess returns by creating additional selling pressure. While data on naked short sales is not publicly available, Securities Exchange Commission data on failures to deliver is a strong proxy. Fail to deliver data for 2004 covers a period during which the prevalence of naked short selling was not public knowledge since neither the fail to deliver data nor the Regulation SHO List were publicly available. In excluding information and regulation effects, the analysis presented in this paper isolates potential microstructure price effects.

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Article: Morgan Stanley Challenges “ETF Collapse” Theory

Article - Media

Morgan Stanley Challenges “ETF Collapse” Theory

ETF, 24 September 2010

Matt Tagliani, head of European and Asian ETF product at Morgan Stanley in London, has challenged the theory of an ETF collapse caused by the lending and short sale of ETFs.

The theory, promulgated by Bogan Associates, LLC in a 15 September white paper entitled “Can an ETF Collapse?” was publicised in a subsequent FT Alphaville blog and then featured as the topic of a CNBC strategy session on Wednesday this week.

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Article: Naked Short Selling Banned By EU

Article - Media, Publications

Naked Short Selling Banned By EU

Global Custodian, 15 September 2010

European Regulators have issued new rules aimed at controlling naked short selling and derivatives trading. Naked short selling, where the investor sells shares short without confirming the availability of the stock, has been banned.

Investors will also be forced to disclose their short position in a firm to regulators if it exceeds 0.2%, and to the market as a whole if it crosses 0.5%. Investors will have to disclose short positions on sovereign bonds, even if the position was obtained using credit default swaps.

The ban on naked short selling by the European Commission will be enforced from July 2012 after approval from the European Parliament. Previously, the seller did not have to prove their ability to obtain the stock. According to todays proposal, in order to “to enter a short sale an investor must have borrowed the instruments concerned, entered into an agreement to borrow them, or have an arrangement with a third party to locate and reserve them for lending so that they are delivered by the settlement date [at the latest 4 days after the transaction].” Continue reading “Article: Naked Short Selling Banned By EU”

Article: Chinese coal company’s share placement produces interesting collection of investors

Article - Media

Chinese coal company’s share placement produces interesting collection of investors

Chris Carey

sharesleuth, 13 September 2010

Sharesleuth took a closer look at the registration statement covering the resale of those shares, and found that no fewer than eight people who participated in the placement have been the subject of Securities and Exchange Commission actions or criminal prosecutions.

The list includes at least four people who were directly or indirectly linked to stock-manipulation schemes. Several other investors were previously involved in a small cluster of U.S. companies whose placements were manipulated by a ring of boiler room brokerages in the 1990s.

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