Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC Corp. said Tuesday that it wasn't involved in any insider trading in its global patent settlement with rival Apple Inc. "There is strict confidentiality requirement in this agreement," HTC said in an emailed statement sent out to the Taiwan Press.

Considering how the stock was hammered by more than 50 percent so far this year and was sitting at its lowest point since 2005, one has to wonder, as the Taiwanese press did, why the company's stock would have magically jumped as it did just prior to a deal with Apple. Something definitely stinks here, but we'll just have to wait to see if pressure from the media will open a formal investigation.

HTC is known to be a Taiwanese Government darling, and that point was made crystal clear last month. The Huffington Post published a report stating that "Senior Taiwanese officials have been under scrutiny for the smartphones they use — specifically whether they support Taiwan's HTC Corp., which plays a big role the island's high-tech economy. Hu Yu-wei, the information minister and government spokesman, stirred up controversy Sunday for posting a picture of an iPhone 5 on his Facebook page." 

11:55 AM Update: A Hong Kong news source has updated the news on this story: "The Taiwan stock exchange said on Tuesday that it is looking into unusual moves in the shares of HTC Corp before the smartphone maker announced a settlement with Apple."