Short Sales Restrictions of Select Banks

Amid the turmoil of a collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac stock, discussions of their bailout, and the FDIC takeover of IndyMac, we get a piece of humorous news: the SEC has placed limits on the shorting of select bank stocks. Now, what exactly it hopes to accomplish by that is anyone's guess. Basically it is more government intrusion into a flailing financial industry. The list of banks that are covered by this ruling, which include many of the major banks in America, as well as some notably excluded—namely Wachovia and Washington Mutual—has been covered by Mish in a series of posts on the subject.

The DJIA did rebound 500 points this week, possibly reacting to slightly cheaper oil prices, and a general air of increasing government protectionism of the financial industry. Nothing set in stone yet about either the bailouts of Fannie and Freddie or passage of the mortgage rescue bill.