Dow Soars 394

A few interesting blips from the financial world in the papers today. I will give you the abridged version.

Two Democrat stiffs, Jack Reed (RI) Christopher Dodd (Conn) , have asked the GAO to examine the SEC enforcement Division after sanctions fell last year. Obviously if sanctions fell it can only be because the SEC is in bed with evil Wall Street and not doing their jobs and fining everyone in sight. Next the will have fine quotas for SEC Examiners like Police Dept quotas for issuing Parking Tickets….disgusting.

Lehman Bros raised 4 Billion yesterday , the original offer was supposed to raise 3 Billion , but it was a hot potato, they say the could have raised 11 billion if needed.
Lehman was sick and tired of the stock price manipulation by short sellers that drove their share prices tumbling , the same manipulation that drove Bear prices through the floor and ultimately out of business. And yet the experts insist the repeal of uptick rule is not at the center of this price volatility. Thankfully CEO Dick Fuld did not opt to take the politically correct stance, and instead called out the scum hedge funds that were trying to kill hi company for their own gain. Prices soared yesterday so hopefully some of those short sellers lost a bundle covering at the higher price. (Full story below)


Lastly , there is light at the end of the tunnel, Merrill is reporting the Hedge Fund equity Managers withheld approx 90 Billion from the markets in the first quarter, the highest total in years…..further evidence that their motive is to kill the US Equity market and then swoop in with all their reserve cash to buy at a bargain…..for those of us who have not panicked and sold already…TAKE HEART..eventually that money will find it's way back into stocks.


April 2, 2008 -- Lehman Brothers turned the tables on investors gambling that the New York-based white-shoe firm could see a run on the bank akin to the one suffered by Bear Stearns.
Following word that Lehman had raised some $4 billion in a preferred share offer, shares surged $6.70 to $44.34 yesterday.
The robust action cost short sellers - a term for those betting that a share price will fall in value - an estimated $300 million, according to Jon Najarian, co-founder of options trading data firm OptionMonster Holdings. Lehman's run-up also helped lift the broader Dow Jones average.
Lehman's brass, led by CEO Dick Fuld, made a point of emphasizing that the share sale was less about shoring up its capital base and more about settling a score with hedge funds and institutional investors that have dogged the bank for the past two weeks by making bets it would go under.
Lehman also said it had sent information to the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding the abusive short selling, reports said.
The bank said the offer was so oversubscribed that demand for its planned $3 billion offering yesterday was raised to $4 billion and could have supported a sale of about $11 billion. Its preferred yields were to the lower end of the range at 7.25 percent.
Prior to the capital-raising effort, Lehman shares had been hammered by negative sentiment. Shares of the fixed-income investment shop were down Monday around 23 percent.
Najarian said Lehman had been the target of heavy put-option trades, in which investors wager that a company's shares will decline.
Average put option volume on Lehman has been about 36,000 a day during the credit crisis, but reached a peak volume last Thursday of 260,000 on bets that Lehman's shares were headed south, Najarian said.
Many observers have viewed Lehman, with its fixed-income focus, as having a similar model to Bear even as CFO Erin Callan laid out the investment bank's $200 billion cash hoard during a recent first-quarter analyst earnings call.