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September 20, 2008

Exploding the Short-Seller Myth About Morgan Stanley, etc.

While no-one is likely to change their mind on this -- the vilification of short-sellers is more or less complete -- but let's keep working away at it. Here is some data on the role of short-sellers in Morgan Stanley's decline this week, specifically the presence that short-sellers had in Morgan Stanley stock. The numbers reflect the percentage of MS's market value sold short at the time in question (according to Data Explorers):

July 2008: 7% (peak)

Sept. 1, 2008: 2%

Sept. 16, 2008: 2.8%

Are these numbers non-zero? Yes. Are they monstrously large, as conspiracy theorists are alleging? No. Are they large in historical terms? No. And had we hit new peaks in recent weeks? No.

Next question.

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