The past couple of weeks have been volatile on Wall Street. Wells Fargo was partly to blame—its earnings surprise sparked a mid-week rally on July 15th and 16th. In my recent blog post about the Wells Fargo-led rally, I explained another factor that caused stocks to soar briefly. It’s something the pros do called “naked shorting.” I know it’s a bit confusing, so I thought you’d be interested in more explanation about the practice of naked shorting and how it affects the market. It’s not something that you hear much about, but I think it’s an important concept to understand because it’s been such a prominent market influence recently. Continue reading »