By: JeeYeon Park CNBC.com Writer
Stocks ended a volatile day with strong
gains Tuesday after taking a sharp nosedive in midday trading, following
a false Twitter post of two explosions in the White House.
Stocks took a steep plunge following a false AP tweet that indicated that the White House had been the victim of an explosion and that President Obama had been injured. The AP confirmed its Twitter account was hacked and the spokesman said the tweet was "bogus." The Twitter account was suspended shortly after the fake tweet.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney held a press conference shortly following AP's Twitter post, saying "the President is fine."
"That goes to show you how algorithms read headlines and create these automatic orders – you don't even have time to react as a human being," said Kenny Polcari of O'Neill Securities. "I'd imagine the SEC's going to look into how this happened. It's not about banning computers, but it's about protection and securing our markets."
Almost immediately following the tweet, the Dow Jones Industrial Average took a quick 143-point dive, before recovering most of its losses within minutes. The three-minute plunge triggered by the tweet briefly wiped out $136.5 billion of the S&P 500 index's value, according to Reuters data. The Dow finished up 152.29 points, or 1.05 percent, to end at 14,719.46.
Interestingly, Tuesday has been the best day of the week for the blue-chip this year with an average return of 0.46 percent. If the index closes in the black today, it will have been up for the 15th consecutive Tuesday. The last time the Dow rose for 15 straight Tuesdays was in 1927. The index rose 27.7 percent in that year.
The S&P 500 jumped 16.28 points, or 1.04 percent, to close at 1,578.78. The Nasdaq rallied 35.78 points, or 1.11 percent, to finish at 3,269.33. All three major averages are now back in positive territory for April.
The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, fell below 14.
Stocks took a steep plunge following a false AP tweet that indicated that the White House had been the victim of an explosion and that President Obama had been injured. The AP confirmed its Twitter account was hacked and the spokesman said the tweet was "bogus." The Twitter account was suspended shortly after the fake tweet.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney held a press conference shortly following AP's Twitter post, saying "the President is fine."
"That goes to show you how algorithms read headlines and create these automatic orders – you don't even have time to react as a human being," said Kenny Polcari of O'Neill Securities. "I'd imagine the SEC's going to look into how this happened. It's not about banning computers, but it's about protection and securing our markets."
Almost immediately following the tweet, the Dow Jones Industrial Average took a quick 143-point dive, before recovering most of its losses within minutes. The three-minute plunge triggered by the tweet briefly wiped out $136.5 billion of the S&P 500 index's value, according to Reuters data. The Dow finished up 152.29 points, or 1.05 percent, to end at 14,719.46.
Interestingly, Tuesday has been the best day of the week for the blue-chip this year with an average return of 0.46 percent. If the index closes in the black today, it will have been up for the 15th consecutive Tuesday. The last time the Dow rose for 15 straight Tuesdays was in 1927. The index rose 27.7 percent in that year.
The S&P 500 jumped 16.28 points, or 1.04 percent, to close at 1,578.78. The Nasdaq rallied 35.78 points, or 1.11 percent, to finish at 3,269.33. All three major averages are now back in positive territory for April.
The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, fell below 14.
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