Jester,

Thanks for chiming in with what Fidelity was at least willing to say. Good for you to take a silver lining outloook ('always learning') as this is the season of goodwill and cheer. I keep thinking the IRS needs to modernize its image (I keep noticing ads on TV for the Navy, soldiers with assault rifles, piloting helicopters, looks very much like a COD trailer.) I keep hearing the old Queen song '(Everybody) We will, we will....SCREW YOU!' Might be a good recruiting tool, finding sadists who enjoy watching you suffer.

This very simple idea crossed my mind this morning regarding the date of the sale of ALU shares and which year it will be taxable in: The obvious - when you sell a stock, the sale is registered and while you actually sold the stock on that date, it takes 3 business days to settle. So, wouldn't there need to be some announcement when NOK actually 'acquires' (buys) those shares, and if not then, in the 3 days it takes for that transaction to be consummated? 

Yes, I know - it's too simple. And individual rules don't apply to corporate actions. And I recall in a case where a company I owned declared a 'special dividend', but it was indeterminate when they would announce the details so that it became clear whethere the manner in which it was done made that distribution a lt or st taxable event. It's just aggravating - I will probably wait until near the 31st, and if it still isn't clear what year the taxation applies to, I will sell some underwater shares that I would rather hang onto, just to be 'safe' in the face of uncertainty. So it goes. ALU is still trading on my watch list, altho it no longer appears on my 'positions' list. 

In other news, Jeffries raised CIEN to buy today. It seems that even with that nastily dismal CC, almost all the analysts are looking at the long term picture, and feel the long term view makes shares cheap here. And GME sinks to near 52 week lows.