According to multiple sources, a trader entered a “b” for billion instead of an “m” for million in a trade possibly involving Procter & Gamble [PG 60.75 -1.41 (-2.27%) ], a component in the Dow. (CNBC’s Jim Cramer noted suspicious price movement in P&G stock on air during the height of the market selloff.

Randomness.

This page helps us visualize the difference in typo.

Here’s a lad standing next to a million dollars.  And then he stands before a billion dollars.

Now imagine those aren’t 500 dollar bills, but …

… Wait.  Do Brokerages issue stock units of 500?

The Nasdaq and New York Stock Exchange took the unusual step of declaring that they would cancel some trades that took place during the height of the selloff. Both markets said they will cancel all trades more than 60 percent above or below market that occurred between 2:40 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. New York time.

Drat.  That confuses my entire stock portfolio.  You don’t understand: when I saw Proctor and Gamble plummet like that, I POUNCED!

I petition to change the word “billion” to something else, for a similar difference that you see between “thousand” and “million”.  I suggest “housand”, but only to see what a TRUE bizarre stock fluctuation looks like.  (Actually, we’d go ahead and change the word “million”.  I think my experiment would work out better with that as the variable.)

………………………….

I’d be irresponsible if I didn’t mention the other causes cited for today’s stock market volatility.  People are brandishing Communist slogans in the country of Greece.  That fateful day has arrived: Capitalism has collapsed.  We must all now salute Karl Marx.

 

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