Well – it was a bit of a bloodbath today in the stock market with the Dow Jones down another 4.6%. Note to media: Why sensationalize it further by reporting the 1,175 points loss as the ‘biggest ever’ – technically true, but misleading? Percentage-wise it’s only the biggest drop since 2011 for the Dow.
Bloomberg reports that the robo-advisor websites from Betterment and Wealthfront crashed today. (Too much traffic). Ironically, robo-trading algorithms are suspected as the culprits for accelerating the 900 point loss to 1,600 points (6.2%*) in the afternoon, before the market recovered somewhat to the 1,175 points loss at the close.
*At 7% down for the S&P 500, the trading curb circuit-breakers would have halted trading for 15 minutes.
