Dow took a 180 point nose dive in the last 45 minutes. Anyone know what happened?

[Cruzan]

It's since recovered about 60 points, but something caused a rather sudden shudder.

[Az]

1. Did George open his pie hole?

That usually does it.

[winter999]

16. Not this time... it was Turkey

recalling its ambassador.

[Individualist]

18. That possibility occurred to me as well

:shrug:

[flyarm]

2. this * government is manipulating it so much ..it means nothing anymore! eom

[Whoa_Nelly]

3. Could it be the Sallie Mae 3Q loss?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3024694

[gateley]

4. Didn't someone put a bajillion dollar "put" in? I don't understand that stuff

AT ALL but I think I heard something about this. Along the lines of -- if the market takes a dive - crashes? - this person or corp will make over a billion bucks.

Truth or fiction - anybody know?

[Robbien]

15. Over in the StockMarket thread they say that the Feds have been pumping

money into the market today like crazy

First they pumped in $6 Billion. That wasn't enough so
they pumped in another $9.5 Billion. That wasn't enough so
they pumped in another $20 Billion.

That still wasn't enough and the market took a dive. Guess things now stabilized.

[gateley]

19. Thanks - again, I don't understand it but it doesn't sound very positive. nt

[rocktivity]

5. Did Bush make a speech?

I remember one speech they televised with a stock ticker next to him, and the numbers plummeted like an anchor. A DU-er dubbed it "the piehole effect."

:headbang:
rocknation

[Spazito]

6. I noticed that as well and was wondering the same n/t

[no_hypocrisy]

7. Did Greenspan say the word "Recession" today?

[kansasblue]

8. "wasn't any specific piece of news to account for the reversal that has been broad-based."

In a striking turn of events, the major indices have sold off hard in the past half hour, with each revisiting negative territory.

http://finance.yahoo.com/marketupdate/overview?u

[StrongBad]

9. The indices have been going up since 8/16

And have increased around 14% since that time. It's just regular old profit-taking and should be expected.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

10. from Nasdaq news ticker...

<snip>
Wall Street on Thursday did an about face, with investors taking profits after climbing to new heights on Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's biggest retailer, hiked its profit expectations for the third quarter.

One analyst attributed the about-face to a natural pullback after a recent run-up among technology stocks, including Apple Inc. (AAPL) , Research-In- Motion Ltd. (RIMM) and VMWare. Inc. (VMW) .
<snip>

I doubt that is right as the turnaround was so tight...but I guess it could be programmed trading...

sP

[n2doc]

17. Selloff was triggered by a computerized tech fund selling

I think the whole thing is set up like a house of cards, or maybe lemmings. When one does it then the rest follow. Given how much the market has soared the last week it is not entirely surprising. They will drive it down for a few days to a week, then when the easy money has been sheared they will drive it back again.

[Zensea]

11. It was at a record high

no surprise it would come down.
Maybe it's a surprise that it happened on the same day but other than that it's not in the least surprising.
Doesn't even require any special reason.

[hisownpetard]

Karl Rove announced he's going on "Dancing with the Stars"? n/t

[Gregorian]

12. The printing presses ran out of paper?

[onyourleft]

13. The word I got...

...was that there were two factors:

1. A tier-1 shop was out making comments on the tech market (they have since denied that they did this).

2. European Central Bank council member Weber said that there is a risk that there may be additional inflation over the coming months that may prompt a rise of rates.

However, tech had been moving up for several days. So, the above may have just been compounded by profit taking.

[jgraz]

14. They heard people were switching their votes to Edwards.

:hide:

[ozone_man]

20. Or the possibility of Gore winning the Nobel.

And then entering the race. The 401K corporate handout from Clinton to Wall Street is at risk. ;)

[jgraz]

23. Don't remind me -- that 401k thing makes me crazy

Again, why the hell any non-millionaire would support her completely escapes me.

[Totally Committed]

21. Turkey attacked the Kurds in N. Iraq?

Just a guess.

TC

[Nite Owl]

22. Heard something about JP Morgan

issuing some downgrades. Profit taking time.

[gateley]

24. Nightmare on Wall Street? It's like watching an accident in slow motion. nt

snip

09:45 am : The stock market opened with decent sized gains despite mediocre same-store sales reports from retailers.

snip

10:05 am : The major indices are holding their gains.

snip

10:35 am : The major indices are now trading at their best levels of the morning.

snip

11:00 am : The major indices are trading near their best levels of the session despite a run up in crude oil prices.

snip

11:30 am : The major indices are off their intraday highs, but are still holding on to decent sized gains.

snip

12:00 pm : The stock market has had a bullish bias up to the mid-day point despite mixed news.

snip

12:30 pm : Since the last update the major indices have reached fresh intraday highs.

snip

1:00 pm : Since the last update, buying interest has faded but there has not been much concerted selling interest either as the indices hold near their session highs. There has been broad based support in the recent gains

snip

1:30 pm : The Dow, which has reached intraday highs in the last half hour, is trading more than 20 points above its record close. The Nasdaq Composite and S&P, meanwhile, are holding near their best levels of the day.

snip

2:00 pm : The major indices have dipped since the last update, causing the Nasdaq to trade at its lowest level since the opening bell. The major indices are still holding modest gains.

snip

2:30 pm : In a striking turn of events, the major indices have sold off hard in the past half hour, with each revisiting negative territory

snip

3:00 pm : At this moment, the stock market is off its lows, but there is still a good deal of volatility.

snip

3:30 pm : Since the last update there has been a second round of selling that has pushed the major indices into new intraday lows. As mentioned before, selling is broad-based, but led by the technology sector.

snip

Nine of the ten economic sectors have now fallen into negative territory. Utilities (+0.1%) is the only sector that has managed to hold some of its gain

snip

http://finance.yahoo.com/marketupdate/overview?u

[Lance_Boyle]

25. profit taking

indices have been up all week, even some of last week. People took profits. Bam! </emeril> Indices back down. It's not rocket surgery.