Skeptical, or simply embittered over the reserve accounting scandal, investors price Shell at only 9 times trailing earnings, versus 11 and 12 for its two larger rivals.
Typically, jawboning efforts have been undertaken by those seeking to lower or moderate price pressures, but Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and his cohorts are putting a novel spin on the technique.
Since July this year, Art Auction Guarantee, a company founded in 2011, have offered buyers of art at auction a guarantee that, for a percentage of the acquisition price (5% to 7.5%), they will get back what they paid for the piece if it is resold at auction after two years or more and fails to make the reserveprice.