According to Bloomberg, the Morgan Stanley CEO has blamed the shorts for today's fall off a cliff. Will he too threaten to break the legs of any employees trying to make a buck before the close? Stay tuned.
Update: Courtesy of Deal Journal, here is the memo Mack sent out to employees this afternoon:
September 17, 2008To: All Employees
From: John Mack
I know all of you are watching our stock price today, and so am I. After the strong earnings and $179 billion in liquidity we announced yesterday-which virtually every equity analyst highlighted in their notes this morning-there is no rational basis for the movements in our stock or credit default spreads.
What's happening out there? It's very clear to me-we're in the midst of a market controlled by fear and rumors, and short sellers are driving our stock down. You should know that the Management Committee and I are taking every step possible to stop this irresponsible action in the market. We have talked to Secretary Paulson and the Treasury. We have talked to Chairman Cox and the SEC. We also are communicating aggressively with our long-term shareholders, our counterparties and our clients. I would encourage all of you to communicate with your clients as well - and make sure they know about our strong performance and strong capital position.
I'll be hosting a town hall tomorrow morning at 8:30 a.m. EDT to address any questions that you have, and would encourage all of you to participate in that discussion. Viewing details are available on Morgan Stanley Today.
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 3:06PM
booo
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 3:08PM
i took a tour of the NYSE the day Bear Stearns went down, and i started my first day of work at a firm last monday.
i feel like i am a bad luck charm.
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 3:08PM
Did anyone else see Bess on 5th and 52nd this morning? Erin Burnett be damned.
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 3:10PM
No is she hot?
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 3:11PM
Tell John there appears to be more sellers than buyers currently.
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 3:12PM
omg.
and what if shorts ARE the problem? does that enter into the equation on this tabloid?
wtf is your problem with reality?
every white man a liar? every rich man a liar?
take a fucking risk in life so that people can criticize every thought you have, and get back to us.
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 3:12PM
Fuuuuck Bess why did you post this? You are going to have every Yahoo! coming out of the wood work blaming shorts, Wall Street and DB regulars for their losses.
If you came from Yahoo message boards hurry go back and tell your sad story over their. Not here. Invested all your money in LEH last week and lost it all a few days later? Yahoo wants to hear all about it.
Another 400 post topic.
SPODE
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 3:12PM
what is bess
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 3:12PM
@ 3 if she looks like she writes, gag me.
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 3:13PM
@ 5 talk about tools.
it's a good thing all you do is troll DB all day. you'd be dangerous at anything else.
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 3:13PM
what is bess
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 3:14PM
nothing gets me away from DB faster than bess on her soapbox.
cya
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 3:14PM
This is off-topic but can someone explain why AIG shares are holding at $2.25. With the massive dilution, you'd think they would be less than $1.
My explanation is that the market is pricing in a chance of the deal being renegotiated on more favorable terms. Other than that it does not make a whole lot of sense.
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 3:15PM
@7 "over their." get outta here with that grammer
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 3:16PM
@10. God forbid I have some fun in here on a day like this. I apologize if I have offended you with this ancient trader's response to "why is the market down". I will keep myself from throwing in any quotes from "Trading Places" so as not to offend you further.
Tool.
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 3:16PM
@8 the sultry editrix of this blog.
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 3:18PM
Good damm gasbags.
He said we should trust dick fuld when he told us the same shit. Guess what when BSC, LEH, MER, AIG - all told us this same shit it was not true.
Why would i believe gasbags/cramers opinions of these CEO's/and thier companies (MS and GS) when thier track record on this matter is 0 of 4. They have been 100% wrong on thier calls for these companies. And 75% wrong on thier CEO calls for the above 4 companies (John Thain did suck
until he had a life line thrown to him and then he did the smartest thing he had done to date as CEO of MER).
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 3:18PM
@7 "over their." get outta here with that grammer
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 3:18PM
Clearly an out of favor ethnic and/or religious group (your pick) is to blame for this drop in prices. Pay no attention to the quality of the assets supporting the firm.
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 3:20PM
@14 get out of hear with that spelling.
SPODE
Posted by Carbonara , Sep 17, 2008 3:21PM
@18 Grammer?
Posted by Bess Levin , Sep 17, 2008 3:21PM
@spode/12-- i posted it because that's what bloomberg is reporting he fucking said. whether or not it's true, I'd say it's significant and worth noting. So fuck off. And I don't think you know what it means to be on a box of soap if you think I was on this post, @12.
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 3:22PM
who is dick fuld?
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 3:22PM
SPODE - Checkmate.
Posted by Carbonara , Sep 17, 2008 3:22PM
@18 Grammer?
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 3:25PM
Yo Bess -- was that you on 5th Ave this morning? We had a little moment in front of the NBA Store, you feel me Boo?
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 3:27PM
is Mack going to have all the hedge funds primebrokered at MS that made money shorting MS LEH BSC AIG and GS give their profits to charity?
Posted by MostOffensive , Sep 17, 2008 3:29PM
@20 "out of hear" here is a place, like website
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 3:30PM
Well boys, Bess is mad at me again. I just checked Bloomberg and they said I'm back on the sofa, again.
SPODE
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 3:32PM
Mack's been around long enough you can't stand in front of a panic.Johnny, there's no crying on Wall St.And we all thought he was a tough guy?
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 3:32PM
haha, sonned by bess levin.
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 3:33PM
Well boy Chris Cox say the Fix is in and GS and MS will be allowed to get away with murder. Time to cover your shorts while the gettin is good.
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 3:33PM
from bberg:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=alP0Hs3.ZArE
"The S&P 500 pared a drop of as much as 4.2 percent as energy companies climbed on a jump in oil prices and CNBC reported that Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack told employees the company is ``strong'' and that short-sellers are responsible for the tumble in its shares."
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 3:33PM
Well boys Chris Cox says the Fix is in and GS and MS will be allowed to get away with murder. Time to cover your shorts while the gettin is good.
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 3:33PM
Are escorts giving discounts now the economy is tanking?
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 3:35PM
So is Mack buying? That would be more convincing than town halls and whining to the government.
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 3:36PM
@28
Sorry I wasn't listening. HAHAHAHA
I'm on fire today kids.
SPODE
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 3:39PM
Mack taking a page out of the Overstock.com book. Whatever happened to efficient markets? ROFL @ MS.
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 3:40PM
Awww, poor little baby - short selling is ok when your sleazy firm is doing it, but not when the rest of us want to make a profit by betting against your hapless management team? Sorry, it's time to get back to the days of value investing, and your firm just has no value to invest in.
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 3:40PM
Anybody watching this guy getting the business on CNBC?
Hes spinning like a top...stonewalling...throwing anything back but answers...
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 3:41PM
“I will hurt the shorts, and that is my goal,” Richard S. Fuld Jr. fumed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/08/business/08sorkin.html
Posted by HAM05 , Sep 17, 2008 3:41PM
@35, no - turning tricks is the only truly recession proof industry. when things are awesome you wanna party with ho's. when things are bad you wanna party with ho's.
ps ZERO buyers out there for goldman sub debt @60
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 3:44PM
@35
Well, as if there wasn't enough to worry about, it appears the High End Stripper Index is tanking as well.
http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2008/09/17/2008-09-17_hard_economic_times_hits_the_high_end_gi.html
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 3:45PM
@40
Yes, that guy just got crushed
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 3:45PM
Oh shit - Bess put down the shit above! Shit just got real!
Me though, I'm just a humble motherfucker...with a big ass dick.
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 3:47PM
@43
I heard the best time to get in is when there is blood in the sheets.
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 3:47PM
You have to love it when a blogger post and then reads the comments and tells her readers to 'fuck off'! I'm laughing - Bess you got a pair and know how to use them...good on ya.
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 3:52PM
Hey - hey - hey: It's ok if you want to take down Lehman or AIG, but don't dare short Goldman Sachs! I heard Treasury is going to buy GS common stock for $250 a share.
What are Mack and Blankfein going to do when it comes out that 80% of today's short-sales happened in their PB accounts and on their dark pools?
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 3:52PM
Recession = more escorts thus shifting the supply curve, prices drop. My proof is Craigslist. I'm ignoring the demand side.
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 3:56PM
3 month T-bill now yielding 0.01.
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 3:58PM
So Morgan Stanley is probably the biggest prime broker for equity market-neutral hedge funds, has probably the largest stock loan department but can't handle it when the infrastructure is used against them rather than just profiting off of it when it's targeting others.
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 3:58PM
@ 39, 45, 47
go back to Yahoo
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 4:00PM
@52...go back to your dad's dildo.
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 4:10PM
shorts are poopy-faced cucky-heads
Posted by KevinB , Sep 17, 2008 4:23PM
Spode - the proverbial legend in his own mind.
You're not near as funny as you perceive yourself to be.
Posted by guest , Sep 17, 2008 4:44PM
I was in vegas Nov '01 and the ladies were feeling the pain then. Deep discounts and freebies thrown in at no charge.
Suspect much the same now.
Posted by guest , Sep 18, 2008 11:55AM
Now there's even Lehman Brothers/Dick Fuld "Open Mouth Toilet Targets" appearing on eBay! Pretty Funny but it's sad that it may be the only "revenge" wiped out shareholder can get. Just drop it in the toilet and "Stand and Deliver". Under the circumstances, it's probably the only way to "Relieve yourself".
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200255614055
Posted by guest , Sep 23, 2008 1:47AM
Someone really should investigate the John Mack and Chris Cox relationship. I don't think it's coincidence that they so vehemently blame the short sellers when it's really about MS leverage, lack of capital raising and weak business model.
It seems either Chris Cox Havard Law is either really incompetent, or is in cahoots with John Mack and the ol boys.
This not the first time John Mack was in cahoots with the SEC for insider trading:
http://www.dealbreaker.com/gary_aguirre/
http://www.whistleblower.org/template/page.cfm?page_id=179
Go on John sell your stock before the short selling ban ends.