Who Sold Short? Part 2

The performance of the stock market over the past few days necessitated some Conspiracy Theory. According to those who pontificated on CNBC and others, there was fear of inflation and as a result rising interest rates, that caused some losses. Then the VIX, a measure of volatility, went up indicating impending unsteadiness and future losses to come. This exacerbated trader panic which resulted in elevated sales. Also, there was great exposure to inverse VIX products on margin. In other words, traders placed bets on market stability. Brokers called in these bets and the traders that made them sold stocks in order to cover these bets (and bet is a good word for this). This resulted in the precipitous sell off of the past several days.

The Conspiracy Theory: someone perceived the over betting on the inverse VIX products. They sold short on stock, maybe Exxon. Then they waited for a small natural downturn and bought or sold underlying options of the VIX and caused it to show increasing volatility. This further panicked traders and commenced the sell off. The conspirators then collected on their short selling, as well put themselves in position to benefit as the market recovers.

The Securities and Exchange Commission should investigate incidents like this in the same way the National Football League reviews every scoring play.

Boob Wolff Whines Again

Oakland Athletics owner Lew “Boob” Wolff is making the rounds of the local media pitching his idea for a San Jose stadium and philosophizing on the A's need for a couple of hitters, which everyone thinks they need. In his comments to the San Francisco Chronicle he makes it clear that he does not want to spend the money and would prefer to develop home grown talent. In the last ten years the team has not done very well in this department. They produce “patient” hitters that get on base, but also leave too many runners in scoring position. During his interview on Comcast's broadcast of tonight's game he says he wants the new stadium and fan base to generate the revenue to acquire these sluggers. This is at once an insult to the current fan base and admission that he will do little to improve the team over the off season. With three losing seasons under his belt and a fourth likely and with his constant whining about the Coliseum it is he that alienates and destroys the fan base. I am beginning to believe the conspiracy theorists who posit that he is doing this intentionally and waiting for his new ball park before he hatches the moves to make this team a contender. Am I being too emotional? Hell, yes! I am a fan and that is short for fanatic. The A's cultivate an emotional relationship with us and now Boob Wolff wants to take this away. And going off to San Jose may as well be leaving for the moon. Some dismiss this as a purely business action. Well I hate businessmen and guys like Wolff make me want to become a Commie.