Sept 11; Is 72 months Significant
 

I've been reading a lot of different open source intel estimates regarding the upcoming anniversary of September 11. This one struck me as somewhat interesting based on the fact that terrorist do like to mark certain anniversaries or historical events with attacks.

It will been 72 months since the September 11 attack.

The Prophet Muhammad predicted that after his death, Islam would divide into 72 factions.
According to the Koran, Allah has 72 angels guarding his throne.
The warriors of Islam are rewarded with 72 “perpetual virgins” in paradise.
The number of warriors on the Muslim side at the Battle of Badr.
The number of people martyred along with Imam Hussain at the Battle of Karbala.
The number of soldiers who will fight alongside Imam Mahdi against the Dajjal, according to Islamic ahadith.

It probably is, however I think by now that they have also realized the significance of 6 A-teams of 72 SF troopers.

72 Months?
 

Is that in Muslim months or Bar-B-Q eating, beer drinking infidel western months?

:D

Swine months....:rolleyes:

How about bear months?

The following needs about a pound of salt to go with it, and I can't say I have any particular confidence in the source. Still, with those caveats in mind:

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$4.5 billion options bet on catastrophe within four weeks

ANYBODY HAVE A CLUE, AS TO WHAT, THESE "INVESTORS" ARE EXPECTING?

The two sales are being referred to by market traders as "bin Laden trades" because only an event on the scale of 9-11 could make these short-sell options valuable.

There are 65,000 contracts @ $750.00 for the SPX 700 calls for open interest. That controls 6.5 million shares at $750 = $4.5 Billion. Not a single trade. But quite a bit of $$ on a contract that is 700 points away from current value. No one would buy that deep "in the money" calls. No reason to. So if they were sold looks like someone betting on massive dislocation. Lots of very strange option activity that I haven't seen before.

The entity or individual offering these sales can only make money if the market drops 30%-50% within the next four weeks. If the market does not drop, the entity or individual involved stands to lose over $1 billion just for engaging in these contracts! Clearly, someone knows something big is going to happen BEFORE the options expire on Sept. 21.

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Link to entire article

I heard about that.

I think it is the son of the Nigerian oil minister.:rolleyes:

TR

He's a busy fellow, so it's always a possibility. :)

I suspect, however, that a hedge fund is doing some sort of highly leveraged trade - perhaps one combining futures and options. The "quants" analyze market inefficiencies, then seek to exploit those inefficiencies. Leverage is essential to make the very small percentage gain worthwhile as an investment.

Alas, that's not nearly as much fun as a deep, dark (and quite improbable) conspiracy. :D

This stock market thing reminds me of that newer Bond movie that came out a few months ago.. :D

As far as another large scale attack, I may be naive, or stupid, but I don't think we'll have another giant attack on the scale of 9-11... I think it'll come as something simple like gunmen in malls or schools.... or heck even suicide/car bombers....

But I suppose if we learned anything from these camel-humpers it's never underestimate them..

Tick, Tick, Tick
 

It's now the 10th.

Back during the Y2K scare, bet it's hard for the under 25 crowd to remember that issue, I was talking with a guy. He said everything with a chip in it was going to stop working at mid-night.

I told him my coffee pot was too stupid. It didn't care if it was 1900 or 2000. It just knew that if it didn't have the coffee perked by 5:30AM I was going to kick it's butt out the back door and get it's replacement.

At 5:30AM I had coffee and later the Wife's car started as she went off sale hunting. Car must have been stupid also. It seemed everything worked.

Be ready - but deal with what happens.

Well, I climb on a plane tomorrow....I'm hoping for a really light turnout at the airport:D

I flew to Yuma less than a week after 9/11.

I went into RDU airport, usually a pretty busy place, and there were less than a dozen passengers, as far as the eye could see. Everyone spoke softly, like in a library, or a museum. Pulling out a military ID meant profuse thanks and condolences from everyone. A dreadlocked guy who would never have even acknowledged me came over to shake my hand and say thanks for my service. Guardsmen with M-16s were everywhere, there was about one screener for every passenger, and all bags were closely scrutinized. Outside the secure area, people were pulling together, as Americans, and policitcs were put aside.

I knew that if we did not get people flying safely again soon, that was going to be the ruination of civil aviation in the U.S. I went ahead and scheduled all of my remaining trips for the year as soon as I got back to the office.

Contrast that with today, where discussions over the chain of custody of evidence with military prisoners, whining about the poor treatment of illegals and the impropriety of fencing our incredibly porous border, bleating about the cruelty of waterboarding, complaints about the erosion of personal freedoms with data mining and electronic monitoring, and any comment by the Dems or the MSM (pretty much the same thing) starts off by blaming the President and spitting on the ground.

I predict that when the WMD attack or serious terrorist incident occurs here, as I believe it will, Americans will band together briefly before again looking to assign blame and asking why we did not do more to protect ourselves or to prevent the attack. In fact, they will need to look no further than their bathroom mirrors.

TR

How would a "Shock & Awe 2.0" on iran affect the markets?

This trading may be "mislabeled" for a reason. Personally I'd be purchasing shares in the companies that produce JDAMS and other guided missiles, we might be in short supply soon.;)

Gold would go up...crude oil likewise. The averages might go down for a time - but if it were a successful effort, I would expect a move up beyond the dreams of avarice.

Thank you, Sir!

:munchin

Once the public had heard of news that SOF forces had touched their feet in the sand of the Panjshir Valley, Afghan shares of Halliburton were being traded in large blocks by both long funds and hedge funds.

I was New York City until the following Monday after 9/11. I awoke my assistant at her home early in the morning by cell phone to instuct her to place short sells on all long held airlines positions held in my clients book. Some decided to sell their long positions outright, and others shorted against the box.

Any publicly held shares of stock even remotely related to defense stocks were being purchased en masse in the weeks following the attacks.