Stock optionsThis is totally out of my expertise. I am asking to be educated here:
Do you understand how the stock options work? Where does BNC come upwith the shares to be sold to the people exercising their options? Theycan't just make up shares, can they? As I understand it, once thecompany issues the number of shares, that number is fixed unless thereis a board approval capital drive like the ones recently. So if BNCneed shares for the stock option, they would either buy back some sharefrom the market or use whatever they have in their reserve. That mightexplain why BNC might want to keep the sp down as long as possible sothey can build up that reserve while they are cheap. Once the results become official, theremight be a sharp increase. Perhaps that's why there is this recent flurryof manipulation?
Otherwise, I can't see why the big boys want to spend so much effort to manipulate this stock just for pennies of difference. They have much bigger profits to be made elsewhere.
I might just be paranoid. But I am trying to understand the situation.