Short-sellers scrambling for cover sent shares of Volkswagen AG (OTC ADR: VLKAY) rocketing up more than $1,000 each Tuesday, to briefly give the German automaker the most valuable market capitalization in the world.

Volkswagen’s Frankfurt-traded shares soared as high as $1,258 (1,005 euros) before closing at $1,186 (918 euros) yesterday.

On Monday, Porsche SE (PINK: POAHF) announced it had acquired options on 31.5% of Volkswagen’s stock, in addition to the 42.6% direct stake it already controlled. With the German state of Lower Saxony controlling another 20.2% of Volkswagen stock, that left a very small amount of shares available for short-sellers who had bet on a decline in Volkswagen’s share price - given the poor outlook for the global auto industry - to cover their “short” positions.

“We’re getting a sense of the Sturm und Drang in the markets now,” Michael Holland, the manager of Holland & Co., an investment management firm,

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Short-sellers scrambling for cover sent shares of Volkswagen AG (OTC ADR: VLKAY) rocketing up more than $1,000 each yesterday (Tuesday), to briefly give the German automaker the most valuable market capitalization in the world. Volkswagen’s Frankfurt-traded shares soared as high as $1,258 (1,005 euros) before closing at $1,186 (918 euros) yesterday. On Monday, Porsche SE (PINK: POAHF) announced it had acquired options on 31.5% of Volkswagen’s stock, in addition to the 42.6% direct stake it already controlled. With the German state of Lower Saxony controlling another 20.2% of Volkswagen stock, that left a very small amount of shares available for short-sellers who had bet on a decline in Volkswagen’s share price - given the poor outlook for the global auto industry - to cover their "short" positions. "We’re getting a sense of the Sturm und Drang in the markets ...