Slashdot Mirror
Tweet From Hacked AP Account Causes High Freq. Traders To Drop DOW 150 Points
New submitter Mike Lape writes "Stocks plunged and recovered within minutes after the hacked AP Twitter account sent out a tweet that indicated that the White House had been the victim of an explosion and that President Obama had been injured. '...the Dow Jones Industrial Average took a quick 143-point plunge, before recovering most of its losses within minutes. The three-minute plunge triggered by the tweet briefly wiped out $136.5 billion of the S&P 500 index's value, according to Reuters data. Interestingly, Tuesday has been the best day of the week for the blue-chip this year with an average return of 0.46 percent. If the index closes in the black today, it will have been up for the 15th consecutive Tuesday. The last time the Dow rose for 15 straight Tuesdays was in 1927.' An analyst said, 'That goes to show you how algorithms read headlines and create these automatic orders – you don't even have time to react as a human being.'"
If they are this easy to fool then we have little to fear.
I sure am glad that, unlike crazy neckbeard stuff like bitcoins, Serious Professional economic instruments don't suffer hilariously baseless volatility because some goofy website got hacked...
That would, like, reduce my confidence in the rationality of the market.
Also, they aren't pissing on your leg- they're adding to your leg's liquidity.
I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
You sound like a programmer who wants to get some pat on the back for spending his weekend fixing the dumb error he made that nixed a week of work.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
sell sell sell
NASA reports asteroid on collision course for earth expected to "obliterate" housing market.
sell sell sell
Gold prices expected to reach a 20 year low as Lord Ganesh spotted on Indian TV favoring peanuts over gold.
sell sell sell
Acme Toothpick Company announces it will be laying off 1 million workers as the last tree in the amazon rain forest is cut down.
sell sell sell
North Korea launches devastating nuclear attack against giant sea turtles invading its territorial waters. Fears of radioactive fish expected to have catastrophic effects on east Asian seafood markets.
sell sell sell