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Anatomy of the Morgan Stanley Panic

Wall Street Journal Original article ›

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An exceptional journalism story of what happened on Sept 16 and September 17, 2008, and the aftermath, by Pulliam, Rappaport, Lucchetti, Strasburg and McGinty, when Morgan Stanley stock lost more than half its value and was at risk of collapsing. What caused the collapse in price? This article shows how the biggest names in financial institutions were buying protection with credit default swaps, and as the price of these swaps skyrocketed on Sept 16 and Sept 17, the shortselling in Morgan Stanley's shares also skyrocketed. Shortselling on Sept 17 reaching nine times the normal, with 39 million shares sold short adding to the 31 million shares sold short in the prior two days, according to trading records examined by WSJ. It was at this point, on the pleas of John Mack CEO of Morgan Stanley, the SEC stepped in to temporarily suspend short selling. It is hard to clearly isolate the shortselling that went on for protection, from the shortselling for speculation, but hedge funds were involved and some of the shortselling was done to make a quick profit. Citigroup has faced the problem of losing half the share's value in a couple of days in the week of November 17, and shortselling in Citigroup's shares contributed to the collapsing stock. See the 3 graphs setup to show the influence of credit default swaps on short selling, and the on share price for Morgan Stanley. On Monday November 24, the government announced a rescue plan for Citigroup. That the uptick rule has not been reinstated as yet, means that when one looks back at this period a few years from now it will show errors in handling this economic and financial markets crisis were made, different from that in the 1930's, but with serious consequences.

John Mack, CEO of Morgan Stanley at the time of the 2008 financial crisis

10/09/2008

Grouped Articles

Anatomy of the Morgan Stanley Panic

Wall Street Journal 11/24/2008

At Moment of Truth, U.S. Forced Big Bankers to Blink

Wall Street Journal 10/15/2008

Morgan Under Assault

New York Times 10/10/2008

A Defiant Mack at Morgan Stanley Throws Punches

Wall Street Journal 10/09/2008

Morgan Stanley Memo by John Mack

Wall Street Journal 10/14/2008

Longest Days of the 2008 financial crisis (1)- October 13, 2008, 3.00 pm at the Treasury Building, Washingon D.C., a meeting for $125 billion capital injection into U.S. banks

10/15/2008

Treasury Secretary Paulson meets the heads of major U.S. banks at the Treasury Building. Only Paulson, Fed chairman Bernanke, Sheila Bair of FDIC, and Geithner of the New York Fed on the government side knows why they are meeting. Termsheets are handed out and returned signed.

Grouped Articles

At Moment of Truth, U.S. Forced Big Bankers to Blink

Wall Street Journal 10/15/2008

Anatomy of the Morgan Stanley Panic

Wall Street Journal 11/24/2008

Obama, Geithner Get Low Grades From Economists

Wall Street Journal 03/11/2009

Dream Mortgage Bailout Has a Darker Side

Wall Street Journal 04/03/2009

From Bubble to Depression?

Wall Street Journal 04/06/2009

Globalization: Capitalism Should Be Nicer | ZEIT ONLINE

ZEIT ONLINE 07/29/2016

Morgan Stanley and the mortgage crisis of 2008

10/10/2008

Grouped Articles

Morgan Stanley Memo by John Mack

Wall Street Journal 10/14/2008

Morgan Under Assault

New York Times 10/10/2008

Anatomy of the Morgan Stanley Panic

Wall Street Journal 11/24/2008

Financial Crisis Suit Suggests Bad Behaviour at Morgan Stanley

New York Times 01/23/2013

The Uptick Rule and Short selling abuses in the U.S.

07/28/2008

The suspension of the Uptick Rule and the S.E.C.'s dire lack of enforcement all seem to suggest that the regulatory mission of the S.E.C. has been influenced by those who are being regulated. Conservatives running the government and regulatory agencies mistakenly assumed that lower regulation was somehow part of the new system of free enterprise that was delivering results. As long as the economy did well they saw no reason to question this, and in fact let regulation wither to the extreme provoking the crisis by letting excesses develop and accumulate. The abuses of excessive leverage under a Fuld at Lehman and of mortage sales under a Mozilo at Countrywide were barely understood by Cox and company at the SEC till they undermined the very foundations of free enterprise.

Grouped Articles

SEC Tries to Rebuild Its Reputation

Wall Street Journal 09/12/2013

Agency Subpoenas Focus on 4 Rumors That Hit Lehman

Wall Street Journal 07/28/2008

Fed Acted on Lehman Rumor

Wall Street Journal 08/21/2008

NYSE Chief Leans Toward Uptick Rule

Wall Street Journal 10/02/2008

U.K. Will Continue Ban on Short Selling

Wall Street Journal 10/23/2008

Citigroup Tries to Stop the Drop in Its Share Price

New York Times 11/21/2008


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