New York – In one of the most dizzying half-hours in stock market history, the Dow plunged nearly 1,000 points before paring those losses in what possibly could have been a trader error.
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The dramatic selloff Thursday as what may have been a trader error exacerbated losses in a market already jittery about the European debt crisis.
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. )
Sources tell CNBC the firm in question that handled the erroneous trade is Citigroup The bank said it has no evidence of a bad trade but is investigating the situation
The massive selloff, which began shortly after 2 pm ET, amplified concerns about the spreading European debt crisis as the approval of austerity measures by the Greek Parliament sparked renewed rioting in Athens.
“There is simply a growing recognition that Greece has got to default,” banking analyst Dick Bove told CNBC.com. “The riots in the streets showed the decision to repay the debt was not going to be made by the people in Germany, France and Switzerland—it’s going to be made by people in Greece and they’re not going to repay it.”er being down as much as 998.50 earlier, the Dow’s biggest intraday drop on record. Treasurys surged.
Under current, New York Stock Exchange rules, if the market falls ten percent or more between 2:30 and 3:00 pm ET, trading is halted for 30 minutes. At its worst point, the Dow was down between 8 and 9 percent today.
**UPDATE** 7:00 PM
Reuters is reporting that the Nasdaq Operations said it will cancel all trades executed between 2:40 p.m. to 3 p.m. showing a rise or fall of more than 60 percent from the last trade in that security at 2:40 p.m or immediately prior. Nasdaq said the stocks affected and break points will be disseminated soon.
Separately, the New York Stock Exchange also said that it will cancel all trades executed between 2:40 p.m. and 3 p.m. that were more than 60 percent away from their last print at 2:40 p.m.
it doesnt look good I hope we have good news from the british elections today
How bad is this or it’s just short term panic by traders?
Once again the power of Hashem. He is the only one in charge of the world. We need to really start realizing it.
after losing bundles i learned first hand that ” toira is di beste schoira”
here we go again!!!!!!
but on a side note, even though the market is expecting another “lehman” being that liquidity is drying up, that 900 point drop seems way to suspicious i mean it only lasted 5 mins, wouldn’t be surprised if hedge funds were out for trading stops or government stepped in, whatever it is it smells fishy
The cycle is turning. Back to 8000 or so until there are real jobs report growth without the census takers being counted (no pun intended). And until there is security in the Middle East. And until th ebank start lending to small buisneses again.
take for example SNDK went from 39 to 34 in a matter of seconds than back up or AHT (which btw is a geat buy) which was trading around 7.7 range than suddenly went to 6 than back to regular. something is fishy
#2 it is a mixture of both. no one knows how bad it is going to be and traders are making things worse. imo it is a great buying opportunity for american stocks which don’t have exposure to europe.
GReece will default on it’s debt, like Russia in the 90’s
Computer error? Right. Goldman Sachs and the other big boys just made a 20% return in 20 minutes of trading. Don’t be fooled people. Greece happened a long time ago, and if you really want me to believe that a computer error — whatever that means — caused billions of dollars in value to evaporate only to reappear in minutes, I’ve got an old bridge to sell you.
No one in history ever make a mistake before?
This is horrible news. Just amagine what would happen to the market if everybody found out that us Ameicans are a trillions of dollars in debt.
Oh vay ! Maybe the Trader has links to the Taliban and this is a terror attack on the US markets. not a simple error. ?
a trader hit “B” for Billion I/O “M ” for Million . Had he hit “T” for Trillion we would have been down to (–) TEn thousand .We are lucky ……..
No. 11. Charley, wake up, it ‘s not Brown who kept the UK away from the Euro .It was during the last Century .
There’s no big difference between a million or a billion, but pretty soon we’ll be making mistakes with BIG numbers 🙂
No. 15. Still trying to sell that bridge ? Why don’t you list it on Craiglist .
The shares of PG was down 22 points intraday ,like 35%. That translates to Dow down over 400 points .Go figure .
everyone has an opinion, and then they find out it was all a mistake? how much faith do you have with the pros?
I predict, there will be aCongressional hearing about this debacle .
Anyone, who enters a market order in a chaotic market like today ,doesn’t belong in the market
It’s the stop-loss orders that cause these convulsions .
where’s george soros?
cut the rent in half – things will change
Reply to # 38. George Soros, is busy counting his big winnings today alone .He is ,unfortunately ,right again .
is it possible that it was some sort of terror attack? (like syber war)
REply to # 44. Mr. Hall , please accept my apology .In my haste to criticize,i neglected to get all the facts .Indeed, it was Gordon Brown who was instrumental in keeping the UK out of the Euro .Kol hakovod .