May 5, 2009
Please, reinstate the uptick rule and IMPOSE A COMPLETE BAN ON NAKED SHORT SELLING. As an individual investor, it's hard to have trust in a market that allows the professionals to sell shares they don't have and use other artificial (i.e. not true, market-based) methods to drive down share prices. This is clear market manipulation. If these folks really want to magnify their bets on a stock going down, let them trade options where everyone knows the rules and risks. Share prices should be based on the performance of the underlying company and the supply of and demand for shares, not the clever financial moves of some Wall Street pros.
I would also like to voice support for a suggestion made in the comments of Mr. Neal Schear of Cincinnatti, who suggested transparency among mutual funds and others who lend out shares for short selling. As an investor, I'd like to know who is facilitating downward pressure on prices in exchange for a small fee. The idea that a mutual fund could invest my money in stocks and then turn around and lend those shares to a short seller is repugnant.
Thank you.