Stop the presses. Barely did we have time to report that European regulators failed to impose a coordinated short selling ban, that Bloomberg reports that the countries most impact by the market plunge are about to impose standalone short-selling bans. These are Belgium, Italy, Spain and France. In other words, it really is on and the 2008 Lehman PTSD flashbacks may now resume. Until we get a headline that says it isn't. The rescue of the Borsa Italian is now more schizophrenic than that of Greece. As a reminder, in the previous post the FT quoted Abraham Lioui, a professor at the Edhec business school in France, who said “It is the worst thing to do right now. This would signal to the market there may be something fundamentally bad that is happening." He is correct. Something is fundamentally very wrong and about to break.

From the AP, google translated:

Short selling of financial stocks banned for 15 days in France (AFP) - There are 13 minutes PARIS - The Financial Markets Authority (AMF), Constable French stock exchange has banned short selling of financial stocks listed in France for a period of 15 days, told AFP, its president Jean-Pierre Jouyet. "We have decided to ban short selling (...) on the actions of eleven banks and insurance companies listed on the French market, that for a period of 15 days," said Mr Jouyet.

And as a reminder, here is what happened to US financials after the September 18, 2008 SEC ban on shorting: