Wow! What a Week!

It's finally the Friday morning of one of the most amazing weeks of my life. There are so, so many things to write about. I often use this blog as a "diary" for myself, so that I can look back 10 years from now and see the state of the world and my career at that time. And, this has to rank as a life-changing week.

Yesterday may have been the most thrilling ride in the stock market that I have ever seen. The day played out like a football game. I arrived in the morning, and watched the market try to mount a comeback after a nearly 500 point drop the day before. The Dow was up about 150 points, but all of a sudden, the rally started to lose steam. What was happening? Oh no! Several huge money market funds said that they broke the buck. The Dow plunged from 150 to about -100. I have watching Goldman and Morgan trade like penny stocks, as Goldman trades below 90 and Morgan trades below 13.

But wait, the Dow is mounting a huge rally, back into positive territory. What is happening now? It's our brethren in Britain banning short sales. Huge rally under way.

Now, another jump in the Dow. What's going on? It's the Yanks' turn now. CALPERS and a few other huge retirement funds coming out and saying that they won't lend out their shares of financial companies for the shorts. CNBC is saying that it's an all-out war against the shorts. God bless Apple Pie and the USA!

I go into a meeting with the Dow up about 100, and a half hour later, I come out and the Dow is up by 400. It's Hank Paulson and the new Resolution Trust Company! Not to be outdone, the SEC now wants to ban shorting of about 800 financial stocks.

As I write this, the FTSE is up around 8%.

My CEP team sits on the Equity Trading Floor, right below the big board in the first row of the floor. Sitting next to me are the two "brokers of the stars" .... the two guys who are the brokers for the traders themselves. Traders are screaming all around me. Applause breaks out spontaneously.

I may end up penniless, but at least, you cannot ever say that it has been boring!


©2008 Marc Adler - All Rights Reserved.
All opinions here are personal, and have no relation to my employer.