SEC short-selling ban to end Thursday
Bearish bets to resume three trading days after Bush signs $700 bln bailout
By Alistair Barr, MarketWatch
Last update: 6:06 p.m. EDT Oct. 3, 2008
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- The Securities and Exchange Commission said late Friday that its short-selling ban will expire just before midnight on Wednesday.
That means hedge funds and other investors can put new bearish bets on shares of financial-services companies starting Thursday.
The SEC said earlier this week that the ban would expire three trading days after the $700 billion government bailout plan became law. President Bush signed the legislation into law on Friday, after the House of Representatives voted for the plan earlier in the day.
The ban, which has prohibited shorting of more than 900 financial-services stocks since the middle of last month, has hampered hedge fund managers' ability to protect their portfolios from losses in equity markets.
Hedge funds may have lost 5% to 9% on average in September, the worst performance in more than a decade, according to Hennessee Group, which tracks performance in the $2 trillion industry. The SEC's short-selling ban was a big factor in those losses, the firm said on Friday. See full story.
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