Call me a cynic but I bet it was leaked to the "people in the know" (i.e. Goldman Sachs) that a government bailout of AIG is coming ;)
I've lightened up on short exposure across the board.
This is the problem with this market - it has nothing to do with fundamentals - just bailouts, government actions, secret meetings, and which people "in the know" will be told about this before the rest of us know.
We did retest that S&P 1170 as mentioned this morning, here is the bounce. From here it can go either way. The risk is too high either way. Since I cannot watch this every moment I'm going to move the short exposure in large part to cash and then wait for the bailout news... ;)
I bought 2 new positions of names I've been watching for quite a while which I'll write out later in the day.
EDIT 11:40 AM: And here we go, more of our tax dollars at work
EDIT 11:40 AM: And here we go, more of our tax dollars at work
- With a private sector solution looking increasingly unlikely, the government is once again considering providing American International Group with some sort of financial support, according to investment banking sources involved in the meeting.
- The New York Federal Reserve is currently meeting to discuss the fate of the troubled insurance giant, these people say. Sources close to the situation said a private sector solution to AIG's situation is definitively dead.
- "It's in our national interest that AIG survive," said Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, a former AIG chairman and a major investor in the insurer. He told CNBC there could be "systemic risks" if AIG's trading partners try to get out of their contracts.
