Should short selling be banned? Are short sellers to blame for the markets woes?
Any changes to mark-to-market accounting would probably be viewed as a plus, at least in the short-term, since many experts think that this rule is a major reason why banks, many of which are stuck with assets that are nearly worthless today, have been posting such huge losses lately. As for Citi (C, Fortune 500) ending its five-quarter run of losses, we’ll soon find out if earnings and Citi belong in the same sentence or if profits at the bank are as mythical as the Easter Bunny. Citi is scheduled to release first-quarter results on April 17 and analysts are still forecasting a net loss of about $2 billion, or 32 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters. No analyst is predicting a profit. So someone’s gonna be wrong in a big way. But it goes without saying that if Pandit isn’t pulling the market’s leg, a return to profitability for the semi-nationalized bank is great news for the financial sector, broader markets and taxpayers. However, I’m not 100% sure that the SEC’s renewed crus
