Thursday, May 06, 2010 - 04:28 PM EDT
"Apple shares, which had climbed nearly 80 points to more than $270 in the three months since Steve Jobs introduced the iPad, briefly lost it all in Thursday's wild trading," Philip Elmer-DeWitt reports for Fortune.
"In the space of 20 minutes, between 2:35 and 2:55 p.m. EDT, it plummeted from nearly $248 a share to $199.25, before bouncing back at high volume to where it started," Elmer-DeWitt reports.
Elmer-DeWitt reports, "Apple, which closed Wednesday at $255.99, ended Thursday at $246.25, down $9.74 (3.8%) for the day."
Full article, in which P.E.D. reports other stock charts also traced similar canyons, here.
TheStreet reports on what their professionals in RealMoney Columnist Conversation were saying during the massive selloff Thursday afternoon. Some snippets:
• Scott Rothbort: This will be like Casablanca. The Congress will round up the usual suspects -- like Goldman Sachs.
• Alan Farley: It looked like the market-making system itself failed today. That's a major subset of the algorithms. For once, I agree with Scott, this selloff was NOT kosher. Even in 2007 and 2008, the "orderliness" was light years ahead of what we just witnessed.
• Rev Shark: So when does the congressional hearing on computerized trading begin? That was just a breathtaking move, and there is no way that the action was not accelerated, or even created by program trading. This is the sort of stuff that has kept the individual investor out of this market during the rally over the past year. They were killed in 2008 and never regained any trust, and now we have this glaring example of machine manipulation to make sure they never do come back.
Full article here.
CNBC reports, "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."
"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 reports. "(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," CNBC reports. "The bank said it has no evidence of a bad trade but is investigating the situation."
CNBC reports, "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.'"
CNBC reports, "There also is a growing sense that any collapse of Greece could trigger a wave of defaults across Europe and even the world."
CNBC reports, "Greece passed a bill in its Parliament after heated debate that calls for unpopular cuts in public spending in pensions and other areas, as well as tax increases. Greece needed to approve the austerity measures to be eligible to receive a $141.9 billion aid package from the International Monetary Fund and the 15 other countries that use the euro."
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Anybody pick up any fruit (or automatically drop it) during the fire sale?