If you have complete confidence in the folks at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which imposed a ban on short-selling 799 stocks for 10 business days, you might want to take a look at some of the names on the list of banned stocks.
Paul Kedrosky, who writes the Infectious Greed blog, did - and what he found was certainly entertaining. One stock you can no longer short-sell is MBP, or Metabolic Pharmaceuticals. Presumably, the SEC actually meant to prevent the short-sale of MPB, which is Mid Penn Bancorp. Oops.
Mr. Kedrosky also discovered that Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. is on the list - "which is hugely reassuring given its current bankruptcy status."
"The SEC is blocking shorting of NAHC, which is Nigerian Aviation Holding Company. Damn Nigerians. It's not enough they have all the best scams; they get shorts blocked too," he said. "Silver State Bancorp is on the list. Recall, it's a failed bank already seized by the FDIC."