Roller-coaster ride for US stocks
Source: Agencies |
May 8, 2010, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE turbulence continued in the United States stock market yesterday, a day after some of the most volatile trading in history.
In the first hour of trading yesterday, the Dow was off 182.96, or 1.7 percent, at 10,337.36. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 23.55, or 2.1 percent, to 1,104.60, while the Nasdaq composite fell 67.51, or 2.9 percent, to 2,252.13.
A computerized selloff possibly caused by a simple typographical error triggered one of the most turbulent days in Wall Street history on Thursday and sent the Dow Jones industrials to a loss of almost 1,000 points, nearly a tenth of their value, in less than half an hour. It was the biggest drop ever during a trading day.
The Dow recovered two-thirds of the loss before the closing bell on Thursday, but that was still the biggest point loss since February last year.
No one was sure what happened, other than automated orders were activated by erroneous trades. One possibility being investigated was that a trader accidentally placed an order to sell US$16 billion, instead of US$16 million, worth of futures, and that was enough to trigger sell orders across the market.
No one was taking blame, either. The New York Stock Exchange said there was no problem with the Big Board's systems, and all the markets were on a conference call with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
In the first hour of trading yesterday, the Dow was off 182.96, or 1.7 percent, at 10,337.36. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 23.55, or 2.1 percent, to 1,104.60, while the Nasdaq composite fell 67.51, or 2.9 percent, to 2,252.13.
A computerized selloff possibly caused by a simple typographical error triggered one of the most turbulent days in Wall Street history on Thursday and sent the Dow Jones industrials to a loss of almost 1,000 points, nearly a tenth of their value, in less than half an hour. It was the biggest drop ever during a trading day.
The Dow recovered two-thirds of the loss before the closing bell on Thursday, but that was still the biggest point loss since February last year.
No one was sure what happened, other than automated orders were activated by erroneous trades. One possibility being investigated was that a trader accidentally placed an order to sell US$16 billion, instead of US$16 million, worth of futures, and that was enough to trigger sell orders across the market.
No one was taking blame, either. The New York Stock Exchange said there was no problem with the Big Board's systems, and all the markets were on a conference call with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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