Cramer's Outrage of the Day is ... Outrageous!

 

I have been intending to include this CNBC video for a few days now.  It's from Jim Cramer.  If you don't know him, how can I describe him?  Former hedge fund manager, SEC Commissioner wanna-be, maybe-he-once-had-it-but-now-he's-a-lunatic-kind-of-guy, and CNBC "maven".  I admit that if you go back to the late 1990's I really enjoyed watching him, found his commentary interesting, signed up to TheStreet.com and Real Money.  I now think he's a caricature of himself and a number of people I know use his commentary as contrarian indicators to investing. 

Anyway, in this video he aggressively challenges the SKF - the ProShares UltraShort Financials ETF - and the removal of the uptick rule.  He maintains that the US markets would be on a "much firmer footing" if the SKF was eliminated and the uptick rule returned.  To his mind, these are the demons that have undermined the markets.  He also suggest that banks including Citi, Bank of America and JP Morgan shares are trading as if they are insolvent due solely to short selling manipulation.  I say again, these bank stock have less than one day's trading as short interest.   Watch for the latest NYSE data which comes out later today to see if there are any dramatic changes.

If you want to make an argument as to why your share price should be higher, try making the argument using facts and data, as Citi has just done.  That way the market - long buyers and short sellers - can decide.  Citi shares were up yesterday.

John Wilson addresses shorting of UK banks in his blog at the end of February:  "Bank short sellers deserve an apology".  The thing about useful stuff is: Bank short-sellers deserve an apology

When comparing Jim's view and John's view, I'm with John.  You decide.

P.S.  I'm interested in your comments on Twitter.  I've had a couple of people suggest that I start up a stock lending Twitter.  Are you interested?  Do you use Twitter?  Let me know what you think.