The rumor set off a firestorm of trading. By 4:00 pm nearly
5 million shares had traded hands and RCII stock was down 5%
Dave Carpenter
Director of investor relations
Rent a Center
"No one knows the source of the rumor". He added that such
rumors are sometimes started by 'short sellers' in the hopes of
causing a short term drop in stock price. "The rumor is
unfounded", Mr. Carpenter said.
At one point, RCII was down over 10%. Around noon, Lehman
Brothers put out a release stating that the weakness was
"unwarranted" and restated their belief that Q4 EPS would be at
the high end of estimates. Lehman stated that the
accounting irregularities rumor was "Unfounded"
