This one comes to you via courtesy of Zero-Hedge: The Scamming Of Investors Continues, Courtesy Of The Rumormill Formerly Known As The Equity Market

1) Somebody (wink wink) spreads a rumor that shorting government-owned companies will be banned. Citi is one of these companies.

2) Rumor spreads, causing AIG, C, FNM and FRE to skyrocket.

3) Citi announces it is placing $2 billion in TruPS, benefiting from the stock-buying orgy.

4) Cramer, and a bunch of fourth-rate analysts come out of the woodwork, and join the bandwagon, saying how Citi is massively undervalued and how the stock is merely an indication of the market realization that Citi’s -100% Tier 1 capital when Marked-to-Market is a much more palatable 349,594,388% when Marked-To-Bullshit.

5) SEC (wink wink) comes out with a one sentence refutation of the rumor late at night, when nobody will notice: “There is no truth to the rumor that we are considering restricting the short-selling of stocks in which the government has a stake,” John Nester, Securities and Exchange Commission.

And that’s how the market works nowadays. Better luck next time.