I would be embarrassed to tell you the prices that were paid for some new positions this morning as the wiseguys 'ran the stops' for another dose of shock and awe. To run the stops means to take the price down quickly with wanton selling to trigger stop loss orders which have been preplaced, creating further selling 'at market.' The exchanges and market makers can see where they are concentrated beforehand.
Over the weekend a reader showed me anecdotal evidence of naked short selling and tape painting by the major financials on some of the Canadian exchanges that was fairly shocking, but required further investigation. He has been sending this to their regulatory authority and been ignored.
For a country with such a sound banking system, the equity markets in Canada are quite exceptional. The Canadian exchanges sometimes appear to be like a carney sideshow, at times making even the Comex look good by comparison. Why they tolerate that sort of thing in such a normally sensible country makes one wonder, as it seems all out of character.
By the way, today is federal election day in Canada. Does anyone south of the border have the vaguest idea of what the issues are for one of their largest trading partners and neighbors? Judging by the mainstream media I think not.
I rarely discuss specific mining stocks and will not do so here. But there are some interesting divergences in the precious metal funds this morning as can be seen in the chart below.
Later...
And near the end of day...
