Fraser SeitelFraser Seitel

When it comes to fake financial news, the undisputed world leader is CNBC.

The financial “news” network proved that once again this month when it enabled notorious short seller Andrew Left to hijack the airwaves for personal gain. (In short selling, stock traders bet against a company by selling shares they don’t own, hoping to buy them back at a lower price.)

In aiding and abetting Left in his quest to hold the network captive with, ahem, “breaking news,” CNBC continued its long-standing tradition of serving as willing blocking back for every public relations-savvy short seller bound for pay dirt by encouraging them to “sell their book” on national television.

The “news” that CNBC enabled Left to announce was that he had decided to cover his short sale of high-flying technology company Nvidia Corporation; a short he announced on the very same CNBC airwaves eight weeks earlier. Left said he would cover his Nvidia short at $100 a share and use the proceeds from the sale to short another equally-successful technology firm, Mobileye NV. (Full disclosure: I own neither stock.)

Almost immediately — and predictably — Left’s CNBC-enabled “news” caused Nvidia’s stock to go up and Mobileye’s to go down.

CNBC had to be thrilled to move the market so significantly, particularly because the impact reinforced what every TV network considers its most essential goal: to boost ratings.

Investors in Nvidia and Mobileye, on the other hand, may have been considerably less enthused.

• For one thing, it was the second time in two months that CNBC had extended free air time for a Left commercial.

• For another, eight weeks earlier, with Nvidia’s stock at a 52-week high of $120, Left told viewers that his “analysis” indicated Nvidia was worth far less and could fall a whopping 25 percent to $90 a share. The stock immediately headed south after the CNBC “news.”

But if Left truly believed his prediction that Nvidia was headed down to $90, why, one wondered, would he rush to cover his bet at $100 just eight weeks later; thus sacrificing 10 percent more in potential profits.

The answer, of course, was that the short seller never expected Nvidia to decline 25 percent as he breathlessly revealed to CNBC viewers. But he could be relatively certain that his shocking pronouncement would, indeed, cause viewers to help drive down the stock price enough for him to make a tidy profit. Which it did and presumably, he did, with CNBC’s gracious assistance.

Over the years, CNBC has provided the same carte blanche forum to other shameless short sellers, like David Einhorn, Bill Ackman and Jim Chanos, to use its airwaves to tout their picks and reap the spoils.

There’s nothing illegal about a stock market investor touting his picks on national television. Nor is there anything illegal about CNBC rolling over for said tout, in an attempt to boost ratings.

Unethical maybe, but not illegal.

In his most recent CNBC free air turn, Left said he was shorting Mobileye, a leader in the technology for self-driving cars, because at $48 a share, the stock, like Nvidia, was “overvalued.” Left advised viewers that his “analysis” revealed that Mobileye would likely drift down toward $35 a share in the short term.

How much you wanna bet he’s gone at $40?

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Fraser P. Seitel has been a communications consultant, author and teacher for 40 years. He may be reached directly at [email protected].