Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Why Wall Street wants you to Panic

This morning we have two perfect examples. E-Trade (ETFC 15.62) sold down to under 10!!! last week on "concerns" regarding their mortgage unit. You had one of the fast money boys advertising the purchase of the puts and emphatically "warning" us that what the smart money in the options pit were doing. It looks like they were just making some fast money of the public, as ETFC this morning said they were in merger discussions with Ameritrade. Who sold in the 10's? Those that listened to the shills.

Example two is MGM (74.32) which sold down to under 64! last Thursday. The story floated by Reuters was that financing for Vegas was drying up, and then the Wall Street Journal had an article Friday titled, "Credit Crunch Plays Vegas, Stalling Some Construction." And MGM was spending $7.4 billion to construct City Center.

What happened?

Today MGM announced a $5 billion dollar investment by Dubai-28 million shares at $84, and $2.7 billion for a stake in City Center. So the really rich paid over $20 a share more than where the stock was less than a week ago, as they coveted this strategic asset, while someone else gave it away last week. Now the stock can see triple digits. So those that can't think for themselves sold MGM, and left a fast 20 points on the table.

Something to think about next time you want to panic.

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