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Stock Market Sell-Off Might Stem From Trader's Fat Finger

Posted by timothy on from the knight-of-the-order-of-magnitude dept.

s122604 points out a CNBC story according to which "the catalyst for today's extraordinary price swing (at one point the Dow lost almost 9 percent in less than an hour) may have been because a trader entered a 'B' for billions instead of an 'M' for millions on a trade of Procter and Gamble: 'According to multiple sources, a trader entered a "b" for billion instead of an "m" for million in a trade possibly involving Procter & Gamble, a component in the Dow. (CNBC's Jim Cramer noted suspicious price movement in P&G stock on air during the height of the market selloff).' Unbelievable there are no safeguards to protect against this."

5 of 643 comments (clear)

  1. oh noes, more socialism by Airdorn · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Oh boy.. yet another reason the current admin. will be pushing for more gov't controls, I bet. Time to get out the popcorn and sit back and watch.

  2. Re:I think you guys are missing the actual point by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    You try explaining how something like that happens apart from some major fuckup somewhere.

    Jews.

  3. Re:Do niggers use the stock market? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    No, no they do not.

  4. Re:SELL! by techoi · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Yeah, but there is no choice for "tin foil hat wearing, I boil complex issues down to a simpleton view of world economics, scare tactic gold spamming a-holes". Troll with just have to do. I just have one question for you gold pimps. If you know all this, then why cant you go buy your gold, and leave us the fuck alone? You have your gold. What do you need more converts for? Fucking spammers.

  5. Re:What is the value of this market speculation? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    Traders are middlemen, but they facilitate transactions. When they are right, and correctly estimate the direction of the market, they make a profit (call it a commission). When they're wrong, they make a loss. Traders aren't costing anyone anything - the buyer WANTED to buy and the seller WANTED to sell. No one is being forced.

    Thank you for defending my profession. As long we we have faithful defenders such as yourself, we will continue our all-American tradition of skimming profits off of your transactions, even though there could easily be systems that don't rely on our "enhanced value". Even though specialists were eliminated form the marketplace, we sincerely hope that your continued support will carry us through our short careers before we retire early. Thank you!