"But across Wall Street, many of the basic mechanisms of the marketplace broke down after the Securities and Exchange Commission announced on Friday morning that it would ban short selling in nearly 800 financial stocks, making it harder for people to bet against those securities, and that it also would force investors to disclose those trades."

The ban is only till mid Otc.

The government has not made a decision of how the new RTC will work, or if they're going to follow through with the idea. They have to bid and buy the nasty paper causing the problem(500 billion or so), that the shot sellers are betting on against the banks.

If the RTC is to happen, will there be enough time to swallow up a large chunk of the nasty paper, prior to the end of the short seller ban slated for mid Oct.?

Once the nasty paper is in the RTC, there is nothing for the short seller to bet on, throwing a life line to the banks.

As far as I'm concerned, the short sellers got wind the day before the ban was announced causing the Thursday 440 point gain, with follow through on Friday.

Monday will tell the story of confidence, my self, I'd be out, but heck, I've been out for over two years now.

It's not over, they've only staved off the short sellers, while trying to set a stage where they have nothing to bet on.

doni