Computers Screw Stock Market Even More Than It’s Already Screwed

As if we didn’t have enough with the stock market going down in flames on its own, computers have decided to screw them a little bit more and make everyone go “WTF” for a few minutes this morning. After dropping around two hundred gazillion points yesterday, today the Dow Jones industrials saw another drop of 700 points, which was suddenly reduced to 125 and then went down again. Everyone thought “rebound” for a second there, until they realised what was really happening.

The reason of the sudden swing was artificial, caused by a large chunk of computer-driven orders that pushed the values up, only to drop down again after these were processed. At least according to the Associated Press, which says that this early roller coaster was “likely caused” by these orders, which “kicked-in when prices had fallen far enough to make some stocks look like an attractive bet. But that buying reflected no lifting of the market’s deep despair, and selling continued.”

Oh noes. Maybe we should all cheer up and let computers run the whole thing for a while then. Or just send stocks to hell altogether. [AP -- Thanks OMGponies]