There’s been speculation that bin Laden speculated in the markets prior to the attack. Apparently, there may be something to this. The following tidbits appear in this week’s Barron’s:
- The FBI is investigating unusual activity in a large number of stock options prior to the attack. These include put options (which are a bet that the stock will go down) on American Airlines, United, Morgan Stanley, and Aon Insurance.
- Filling in the details, the specifics being investigated in the case of the airlines are:
- On Thursday, September 6 options volume on United was five times the average volume, and double the next day.
- On Monday, September 10, put volume on American was 10 times the average.
That sure as hell looks suspicious. Meantime, over in Europe, regulators are investigating options on insurers Munich Re, Swiss Re, and AXA, and an unusual drop in the share price of KLM airlines.
So the man not only kills people, it looks like he turns a profit on it too. If this turns out to be true, it would certainly add another uniquely sickening twist to these events.