One tweet caused loss of $136 billion
 

So crazy this world

was one week ago this Tuesday that a hacked AP account tweeted, ?Breaking: Two Explosions in the White House and Barack Obama is injured? to its 1.9 million followers.

Moments later, the @AP twitter handle released a statement saying they had been hacked and that President Obama was fine, but the markets had already reacted. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 150 points and lost $136 billion in value before rebounding.

The internet, a love hate relationship

Won't be the last time something like that happens...

if it happens more often that would just end up softening the reaction..

Well that is not a real value anyway so it's no biggie.Real lose is only if you sell it for lesser price then you bought.

Omg someone hacked DVTime account at GFY. Loss: 136 billions... and 1 cent.

that's what happened.. think the story was some groups had scripts that scan news headlines and will sell at keywords

btw the account wasnt hacked.
somebody sent an email disguised as the editor to the person who controls the twitter account and she posted the tweet.:2 cents:

All of those transactions costed money to execute. Therefore it was a real loss.

$136 billion figure probably isn't correct though. It depends on how many sold on news of the crash? Because if I remember correctly, it bounced back within minutes (I might be wrong on how long it took) of the account being disabled.

that's how hb gary was 'hacked'

Anyone that sold stock because of a tweet with out checking for a second source deserved to lose their money. Simply put "INVESTORS" didn't lose money.

The guys that react to information like that are day traders & market groups not actual investors. They gamble, so they should quit crying every time they lose.

Not to mention any stock that was sold was bought by someone else so any loses were turned into gains on the other side.

Welcome to bitcoin economics.

Hacker did not change the password? Otherwise they could not regain access and post something "moments later" :)

High frequency trading by machines that include twitter in their algos...


The stock market has zero to do with the economy or the ordinary investor.

Thanks for clearing that up, I had completely misunderstood how economics work. What should I invest in ?