Australia Stabilizes Markets

Australia has joined the U.S.,U.K. and Germany in banning the practice of short-selling,which is a kind of betting that a stock will fall.On Monday,Australian authorities expanded the ban to include not only naked short-selling,which is the most aggressive form,but covered short-selling as well.The ban won't apply to some hedging positions.Investment bank Babcock and Brown had complained about the short-selling of its shares.It rallied 70% at the news of the expanded ban on the practice.Meanwhile,Morgan Stanley(MS) and Goldman Sachs(GS) are to become commercial banks.The last two large,independent investment banks in the U.S. will acquire a depository base and be subject to Federal Reserve supervision,in a bid to secure their futures.Goldman Sachs will be known as Goldman Sachs Bank U.S.A..