A faulty stock order reportedly caused the Dow Jones Industrial Average to suffer its biggest loss of nearly 1,000 points Thursday, but as the Dow mostly regained its financial ground, the debt crisis in Greece still overshadows the world’s financial outlook.
Around 2:45 p.m., the Dow had fallen by more than 990 points and dipped below a total of 10,000, before bouncing back to a roughly 500-point loss only minutes later. By 4 p.m., the Dow closed with a loss of 347 points, or 3.2 percent.
The Wall Street Journal reports that several market watchers heard that a major investing firm may have released a faulty trading algorithm that accidentally placed an order to sell $16 billion of e-minis, or stock index futures, instead of $16 million.
The e-minis were traded at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, and the exchange was investigating the trades, according to the Journal.
Earlier, CNN had reported that NASDAQ stock market officials said that a faulty stock quote for the pharmaceutical company Proctor and Gamble caused the overall stock market tumble.
Proctor and Gamble suffered extreme temporary losses, and it plunged from 62.08 points at 2:36 p.m. to 39.37 points at 2:48 p.m. By 2:54 p.m., the company had regained its losses.
While 173 stocks saw increases on the New York Stock Exchange, another 3,002 stocks dropped, according to the AP.
Previously, the Dow Jones’s largest drop was 777 points in September 2008.
Meanwhile, according to the Associated Press, 30,000 demonstrators took to the streets of Athens Thursday to protest drastic cuts made by Greek lawmakers. Greece’s cuts were made in the hopes of securing international rescue loans worth 110 billion euros, which would come from the International Monetary Fund and 15 other European governments.
Police fired tear gas at crowds gathered in front of the Greek parliament, but the demonstrations did not result in arrests or injuries, according to the AP. Wednesday’s riots in Athens resulted in three deaths, 59 injuries, 25 arrests and the destruction of tens of stores, according to the AP.
The Greece Riots
Portugal and Spain are also in vulnerable financial situations.
Tags: the collapse of america, The Collapse of Greece to have ripple Effects on the World
