BREAKING: Stock Markets Crashing
Bumped Due to Importance

NYSE Down 900 or so and falling.

Okay looks like it's bouncing back and the loss in the 450 range.

Stocks plunged Thursday and took the Dow Jones industrials down almost 1,000 points as investors succumbed to fears that Greece's debt problems would halt the global economic recovery.

Computer selling intensified the selling while investors watched protests in the streets of Athens on TV. Fears are running high in the financial markets that the Greek government will not be able to implement austerity measures that would enable it to contain its debt problems. And, in turn, that the country's problems will hurt other economies in Europe and even the U.S.

They didn't hit the automatic shutdown point but it was close.

Ace's Headline:

Bush's Failed Policies of the Past Cause Crisis In Greece, World Panic

Not to be a hack, but how is it Bush is still being blamed for what is obviously a near-universal world-wide asset-bubble?

Did Bush also cause a housing bubble in Spain? Did Bush's "dangerous deregulation" cause foreign countries and foreign markets to invest so heavily Spanish housing speculation?

Yes, America, like a Ranger, leads the way, but.... Maybe I'm crazy but it sure seems to me that virtually every country is having the same, or very similar problems, and last time I checked Bush was not elected to serve as President of the Galaxy.

Buy on the Rumor, Sell on the News: At Hot Air, Allah posts a commenter noting the current rumor (which we're hearing over here, too). Take already-shaky and spooky markets and add a glitch...

There was a bad print (trade) in Proctor and Gamble (PG) It went from the low $60 to $40’s for no reason. I worked on the NYSE for 10 years now daytrade and this is what set off the stampede. The market was primed for any reason for a sell off, the spill in the gulf and Greece, so it was the straw that broke the camels back. When something like that happens it sets off machine generated sell orders adding a pile on effect. Not good, but the recent bull market has been based on unicorns and fairy dust, it will be a very interesting summer.

A similar but different rumor (I think) says the error was caused by "M" for million being written instead of "B" for billion (or the other way 'round)...

CNBC: Human error was expected to have triggered intraday selloff. Somebody may have typed "billion" stedda "million"

Thanks to DrewM and Slublog for those rumors.

Another Rumor: From shibumi:

Supposedly, the carnage is due to a rumor that European banks are no longer lending. To anyone.

Well, three different rumors. I'm guessing that no one really has any idea yet.

Hmmm... Here's P&G's price chart. I don't know how to read this, but I think in that middle box you see the price falling asymptotically, strrrrraight down:

The "b" and "m" story and the P&G price story may be the same story:

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.

posted by DrewM. at 03:52 PM

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