Germany bans naked short selling
The Globe and Mail, among other media outlets, is reporting today that Germany has banned naked short selling of euro-denominated government bonds, credit default swaps based on the bonds and shares of the country's ten most important financial institutions. The ban, which apparently took effect at midnight, will run until March 31, 2011. According to Reuters, the move caught Germany's European Union colleagues off guard and elicited a particularly strong response from the French Finance Minister, who stated that France would not introduce a similar ban. Whether other EU countries follow suit, however, remains to be seen.
