Mystery trader bets on market falling by 1/3 before Sept 21

[uselesseater]

Market Crash Forecast Suggests New 9/11
Mystery trader bets on huge downturn that could only be preceded by catastrophe

Prison Planet | August 27, 2007
Paul Joseph Watson

A mystery trader risks losing around $1 billion dollars after placing 245,000 put options on the Dow Jones Eurostoxx 50 index, leading many analysts to speculate that a stock market crash preceded by a new 9/11 style catastrophe could take place within the next month.

The anonymous trader only stands to make money if the market crashes by a third to a half before September 21st, which is when the put options expire. A put option is a financial contract between two parties, the buyer and the writer (seller) of the option, in which the buyer stands to benefit only if the price of the asset falls.

"The sales are being referred to by market traders as "bin Laden trades" because only an event on the scale of 9-11 could make these short-sell options valuable," reports financial blogger Marc Parent .

The trader stands to make around $2 billion from their investment should an event trigger a market crash before the third week in September.

Such a cataclysmic jolt could only happen as a result of two factors, China dumping its vast dollar reserves in reaction to the sub-prime mortgage collapse, which it has threatened to do , or a massive terror attack on the same scale or larger than 9/11.

9/11 itself was foreshadowed by unprecedented put options that were placed on United and American Airlines. Though the Securities and Exchange Commission refused to reveal who placed the options, private researchers traced the investments back to the Deutsche Bank owned Banker's Trust, which was formerly headed by then Executive Director of the CIA, Buzzy Krongard.

Put options on Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch, two of the World Trade Center's most prominent occupants, also spiked in the days before 9/11.

News of the suspicious trades is dovetailed by the comments of Former US Treasury secretary Larry Summers yesterday , who told ABC News that the risk of a recession in the U.S. was greater that at any time since 9/11.

[karlos]

As has also been flagged.
the US is moving troops to the capital in a major redeployment which seems to have no justification unless theya re expecting something big, like an attack on the white house followed by the imposing of martial law?


Former US Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, along with former US Diplomat and Colonel in the US Army reserve Ann Wright have put their names to an open letter warning that massive evidence points to an upcoming event.

Current Congressional candidates Cindy Sheehan and Craig Hill are also among the signatories to the letter.

Here is the letter in full:

To the American people, and to peace loving individuals everywhere:

Massive evidence has come to our attention which shows that the backers, controllers, and allies of Vice President Dick Cheney are determined to orchestrate and manufacture a new 9/11 terror incident, and/or a new Gulf of Tonkin war provocation over the coming weeks and months. Such events would be used by the Bush administration as a pretext for launching an aggressive war against Iran, quite possibly with nuclear weapons, and for imposing a regime of martial law here in the United States. We call on the House of Representatives to proceed immediately to the impeachment of Cheney, as an urgent measure for avoiding a wider and more catastrophic war. Once impeachment has begun, it will be easier for loyal and patriotic military officers to refuse illegal orders coming from the Cheney faction. We solemnly warn the people of the world that any terrorist attack with weapons of mass destruction taking place inside the United States or elsewhere in the immediate future must be considered the prima facie responsibility of the Cheney faction. We urge responsible political leaders everywhere to begin at once to inoculate the public opinion of their countries against such a threatened false flag terror operation.

(Signed)
CYNTHIA MCKINNEY, FORMER US CONGRESSWOMAN, GEORGIA
CINDY SHEEHAN, CANDIDATE FOR US CONGRESS, CALIFORNIA
CRAIG HILL, CANDIDATE FOR US CONGRESS, VERMONT GREEN PARTY
BRUCE MARSHALL, CONVENOR, PHILADELPHIA PLATFORM
JAMILLA EL-SHAFEI, KENNEBUNK PEACE DEPARTMENT
WEBSTER G. TARPLEY, AUTHOR
ANN WRIGHT, COLONEL US ARMY RESERVE, FORMER US DIPLOMAT
DR. DAHLIA WASFI, WWW.LIBERATETHIS.COM
GEORGE PAZ MARTIN
JOHN KAMINSKI , PRESIDENT MAINE LAWYERS FOR DEMOCRACY
--

[Roger the Horse]

The trader could merely be speculating on further fallout from the US sub prime mortgages mess of course......

Thursday, 30 August 2007, 11:10 GMT 12:10 UK

Counting the cost of the home loan crisis
By Greg Wood
Business presenter, BBC Radio 4 Today programme



The markets could face many more anxious days yet

Like a stone dropped into a very large pond, the crisis in the US home loans market is sending ripples throughout the world's financial system.

It has already caused a few upsets, an Australian hedge fund collapsing here, a small German state bank having to be rescued there. But September is the month when the true cost of the credit crunch will be felt by some of the richest companies on the planet.

In the glass towers of Wall Street this week, the bankers at Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have been totting up the figures for the past three months.

It has been a good year, with record profits and bonuses. But that is going to stop.

The credit rating agency Standard & Poor's estimates that investment banking revenues could fall by nearly 50% in the second half of this year because of exposure to non-performing mortgages and loans.

In the case of Goldman Sachs alone, that would be a drop of $1.75 (£852.5bn).

Damaging rumours

Goldman Sachs will report its next set of profits in mid-September and the rest of Wall Street's finest will follow suit. It promises to be a painful experience, and not just for US banks.

Standard & Poor's harsh warning about falling revenue and profits also covers Europe's leading investment banks, including Barclays.

Barclays has had an odd week, and one which illustrates how easily rumour can take hold when investors are scared.

Barclays share price fell because of a story that the bank had exposure to very significant losses incurred by that small German bank mentioned earlier.

Well, it turned out that any exposure is in fact pretty small. But that didn't stop the rumour doing the damage.

Complex debt


Problems in the US housing sector have rippled around the world

And it is not as though these mighty banks were involved in the actual business of providing mortgages to poor Americans with no jobs and no money.

When US interest rates rose and those people started defaulting on their loans, it was a number of relatively obscure sub-prime lenders in states such as California that went bust.

But those lenders were funded by the big banks. And the sub-prime loans were parcelled out to the markets as investments - complex debt vehicles with odd names like "Collateralised Debt Obligations" and "SIV Lites", which are basically bundles of American mortgages that you can buy like a share or a bond.

Nobody wants to buy them now. In the last few weeks these investments have bombed in value - and in some cases they cannot be bought or sold at all.

Autumn crash?

There is no doubt there are losses out there running into billions of pounds.

Just how much and who's affected will begin to emerge over the next month, and every now and then a hedge fund will collapse.

Students of stock market history are feeling nervous. A summer of tremors has in the past been followed by an autumn crash.

Don't go on holiday in September.