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As Wall Street freefalls, Accenture does a trampoline bounce
ZDNET Between the Lines ^ | May 6, 2010, 1:45pm PDT | Sam Diaz

Posted on 05/06/2010 2:03:52 PM PDT by Eepsy

Pick a news site this afternoon and you’ll find plenty of analysis, speculation or theory over what happened on Wall Street today to cause the Dow to plunge before heading back toward a recovery.

But to illustrate how dramatic the plunge was, look no further than Accenture.

Accenture opened at $41.78 and then climbed a bit before flattening out for most of the day. Then, right around 2:45 p.m., with the stock trading at around $40, it plummeted - down to 1 cent. Yes, a penny.

And then, two minutes later, it bounced right back up to that $40 level. (Anyone happen to buy in those two minutes?)

So, what happened? Like I said, theories galore, including human error involving a trader who typed a “b” for billion, instead of an “m” for million. There’s also talk that it was a computer glitch.

By the way, Accenture was down slightly - 2.56 percent, to be exact - for the day. It closed at $41.09


TOPICS: Business/Economy
KEYWORDS:

1 posted on 05/06/2010 2:03:52 PM PDT by Eepsy
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To: Eepsy
anyone around long enough to remember EMLX?

it's the best argument for specialists there is.

2 posted on 05/06/2010 2:05:03 PM PDT by the invisib1e hand ("gentle when stroked, fierce when provoked")
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To: Eepsy
that trade will be broken.

apparently they are still using "snakes" -- apps that sniff for obvious price-entry errors on sent orders in order to fill 'em.

3 posted on 05/06/2010 2:07:01 PM PDT by the invisib1e hand ("gentle when stroked, fierce when provoked")
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To: Eepsy

Riots in Greece caused much of today’s drop. A bad trade gave nervous investors everywhere a reason to sell. Normally one bad trade does not move a market. In this case it is the concern about global national debt.


4 posted on 05/06/2010 2:07:10 PM PDT by mlocher (USA is a sovereign nation)
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To: Eepsy

The correct answer is that it became public I didn’t get that Accenture job in the London office.

Well, this speaks for itself.


5 posted on 05/06/2010 2:08:20 PM PDT by School of Rational Thought
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To: School of Rational Thought
Yep. Page Rob Preston of InformationWeek and ask how all that cheap India programming is working for him now.
6 posted on 05/06/2010 2:14:20 PM PDT by Ukiapah Heep (Shoes for Industry!)
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To: Eepsy

Can you imagine being an Accenture executive for those 2 minutes?


7 posted on 05/06/2010 2:17:08 PM PDT by camerongood210
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To: Eepsy

Computers don’t glitch


8 posted on 05/06/2010 2:20:21 PM PDT by Carley (WE CAN SEE NOVEMBER FROM OUR HOUSE)
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To: camerongood210

can you imagine being the individual that had an open market order to buy $10,000 worth... only to find you received 1m shares


9 posted on 05/06/2010 2:21:49 PM PDT by sten
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To: sten

If that did happen, then somebody got rich quick


10 posted on 05/06/2010 2:24:54 PM PDT by camerongood210
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To: Ukiapah Heep

Are you serious? Is software driving enough of these trades to cause this? Having been a coder for 20+ years, I’d say it’s time to get out then. What’s the old line, “to err is human but to really screw things up, it takes a computer”?


11 posted on 05/06/2010 2:25:57 PM PDT by throwback ( The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid)
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To: Eepsy

“Honey, I told you we should have bought!”


12 posted on 05/06/2010 2:28:52 PM PDT by Uncle Miltie ("young people, African-Americans, Latinos and women; teabaggers"-0 Ageist Racist Sexist Homophobic)
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To: mlocher

My hope is that the drop was caused by hordes of illegals withdrawing their dollars from their investment advisers and deciding to pack up and head home ;) well I can dream....


13 posted on 05/06/2010 2:30:36 PM PDT by Thurston_Howell_III (Ahoy polloi... where did you come from, a scotch ad?)
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To: Carley
Would you like to play a game?
14 posted on 05/06/2010 2:32:51 PM PDT by Thurston_Howell_III (Ahoy polloi... where did you come from, a scotch ad?)
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To: School of Rational Thought
The correct answer is that it became public I didn’t get that Accenture job in the London office.

It's OK, I did get the job and that's why it shot back up...;)

15 posted on 05/06/2010 2:36:56 PM PDT by PugetSoundSoldier (Indignation over the Sting of Truth is the defense of the indefensible)
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To: Eepsy
Besides insider trading, I wonder if any of Provest LLC execs (Scott Stradey, Jim McDermott or Carl Turro) made any money in those 3 minutes.

5.56mm

16 posted on 05/06/2010 2:50:36 PM PDT by M Kehoe
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To: Thurston_Howell_III

LOL.......this old broad just figured out how to log on.


17 posted on 05/06/2010 2:59:50 PM PDT by Carley (WE CAN SEE NOVEMBER FROM OUR HOUSE)
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To: Eepsy

So, who bought it at 0.01c? It should be a small universe.


18 posted on 05/06/2010 3:28:54 PM PDT by uscabjd
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To: Eepsy
Correction. I spelled Scott Strady's name incorrectly.

I wonder if Prairie Capital made any money also.

5.56mm

19 posted on 05/06/2010 3:30:06 PM PDT by M Kehoe
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To: throwback
I still say Preston looks like he could kick my ass out in the parking lot. But the big question for offwhoring shills like him are: Have ya ever laid down a line of code? Well have ya? Punk!
20 posted on 05/16/2010 6:58:18 AM PDT by Ukiapah Heep (Shoes for Industry!)
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