The Journal had an interesting article on this today. Apparently one of the things - and possibly the major thing - behind these wild swings is computerized trading, which is automatic and instantaneous. And then, in a sense, its reading its own data and acting on that basis so things go from bad to worse (or from high to too high, depending).
I think this is a serious problem, and I also think its vulnerable to hacking in a big way. Heck, one of the Vegas casinos got hacked by the Chinese through its huge fish tank, which had a security system to watch for changes in water temperature that unfortunately was not very secure itself. The Chinese are the biggest offenders in this, and you better believe that theyd like to destroy our economy.
AUTOMATED COMPUTER BUYING AND SELLING SHOULD BE BANNED..................