Tuesday, October 28, 2008

The Largest Company in the World...Volkswagen

Yes Volkswagen! As just another example of how crazy things have become in this market, in terms of market capitalization, Volkswagen temporarily surpassed ExxonMobil (XOM) and became the largest company in the world this morning. The reason for today's move is due to an announcement from Porsche that they intend to increase their stake in the company to 75%. Since Volkswagen had the highest short interest of any stock in the German DAX index (12.9% of float), the result was the mother of all short squeezes. After closing at 210 Euros on Friday, Volkswagen rose above 1,000 Euros in intraday trading and is currently trading at 643 Euros.

Today's move in Volkswagen highlights the complete lack of liquidity in the marketplace these days. When the largest companies in the world are making triple-digit percentage moves on a regular basis, it's hard to say that the market is operating in a rational manner. Although holders of Volkswagen are probably feeling pretty good right now!

Volks

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Lunch is for wimps

Lunch is for wimps
It's not a question of enough, pal. It's a zero sum game, somebody wins, somebody loses. Money itself isn't lost or made, it's simply transferred from one perception to another.