Good morning
The headlines:
- OH MY F**K – A TRADING ALGORITHM MALFUNCTION!
Link: Knight 2 Pawn 4.
They were installing new trading software.
And suddenly:
Record trading volumes, trading gets suspended on six securities, trading on a further 134 securities goes under investigation, clients get directed to other firms to place their trades, a $440 million loss, Knight’s share price drops by 75% in two days, and the rumour is that Knight Capital is putting itself out for purchase.
Behold the share price carnage:
I come back to my standard response to these things. The IT guy should be called in to testify to Congress.
- Tata shrugs off grid collapse.
Link: Obvs.
Companies that operate in third world infrastructure have solutions, not pleas. In America, there would be outrage and shut factories and lawyers polishing their fountain pens to sign off on the legal notices of the impending class action suit.
In India, Tata has a generator. Maybe more than one. And everything continues as if there were nothing like a national power grid. Actually, most big companies in India generate their own power requirements.
In my mind, this is why the East and South will triumph. Financial and operating independence. Sovereign states made up of sovereign individuals. It’s practically apocalyptic.
Meanwhile, American public’s biggest issue is the support/non-support of Chick-fil-A. I leave the conclusion drawing to you.
- The ECB and the EU Politicians in an anti-crisis bargain deal?
Link: that’s the story.
A deal involving the ECB purchasing Spanish and Italian treasuries on the market in return for the bailout fund purchasing direct from the Treasuries, and “tough conditions”.
I’m not sure what this means exactly. There are a lot of clever people calling this “progress”. Maybe it is.
I’ve been waiting for the implication to dawn on me, but nothing so far. Maybe it’s too early.
- BHP’s $3.3 billion write-down.
Link: Shale gas and nickel.
Falling nickel and shale gas prices are a bit devastating for the producers. BHP paid $20 billion for American shale gas assets last year. Then the market, like, boomed with supply (I recall them finding shale gas reserves almost everywhere, and in Canada); and BHP had to knock those assets down by $2.84 billion.
Which is a bit awks.
That’s all for now.
Have a good day.
