9/23T8:48 News & Notes

SEC quickly revises short-selling rules - WSJ
WSJ reports the SEC said shortly after midnight Monday that it would revise rules to curb short selling that it had issued just three days before. The SEC's latest change of direction on short selling caught some market participants off guard and prompted criticism that the agency has miscalculated the impact of its rulemaking. The SEC, in a release issued at 12:26 a.m. EST Monday, reversed a position it had taken Friday when it said that market makers couldn't short financial stocks after Friday. The new rules as of Monday: Those engaged in bona fide market making and hedging activity, including in derivative contracts, could continue to short. "The purpose of this accommodation is to permit market makers to continue to provide liquidity to the markets," the SEC explained in the revised order. To try to prevent short sellers from using market makers to take big positions, the SEC said market makers couldn't short for a customer if it would give them a net short position in the security.
RCM Comment: This is the follow up to last week's obvious manipulation.