Wild ride on the market today. (Still ongoing.) VTI (Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF) was down 33% at one point, and then in a matter of a few minutes recovered nearly 29%. (Note that this was not how much the actual stocks in the ETF went down as ETFs are priced by the highest bidder; many ETFs suffered presumably from liquidity issues. Hence, my title is a bit misleading.) The Dow sunk nearly 1000 points, or 9.8%, and quickly shot back up 600 points. Heck, VB (Vanguard Small Cap ETF) was down 96% at one point (to 0.1; the bid price that is, the ask was still somewhat normal so purchasing at that price wouldn't have gone through) and then quickly shot back up. Some people made a whole lot of money today, while others lost a bundle.
I can't even load the Yahoo! Finance webpage. Apparently, several people are unable to access their brokerage accounts.
Get this: it appears that an order went through for 39,000 shares of VTI for around $39! VTI is now at 57.6. That computer made somebody a lot of money.
More to come....
Update 4:05 PM ET: CNBC is reporting that the crash was caused by a trading error at Citigroup. Earlier reported simply to be a "major firm."
Update 7:30 PM ET: It appears that there was a technical glitch in a variety of stocks, including P&G. Nasdaq and NYSE are canceling all trades that moved more than 60%. So, any of those VB trades at ridiculously low prices are canceled; however, the VTI trade @ 39 will stand as it's within 60%.
Update 5/7/10: It seems as if the "fat fingers" theory blamed on Citigroup was pre-mature, and there is no evidence to substantiate it.
I can't even load the Yahoo! Finance webpage. Apparently, several people are unable to access their brokerage accounts.
Get this: it appears that an order went through for 39,000 shares of VTI for around $39! VTI is now at 57.6. That computer made somebody a lot of money.
More to come....
Update 4:05 PM ET: CNBC is reporting that the crash was caused by a trading error at Citigroup. Earlier reported simply to be a "major firm."
Update 7:30 PM ET: It appears that there was a technical glitch in a variety of stocks, including P&G. Nasdaq and NYSE are canceling all trades that moved more than 60%. So, any of those VB trades at ridiculously low prices are canceled; however, the VTI trade @ 39 will stand as it's within 60%.
Update 5/7/10: It seems as if the "fat fingers" theory blamed on Citigroup was pre-mature, and there is no evidence to substantiate it.
