Saturday, May 8, 2010

The May 6 Meltdown. What Happened?

by Motley Fool Staff May 7, 2010

On Thursday, the market briefly lost its mind. Some combination of an erroneous trade and massive amounts of computer algorithms sent stocks plunging -- the Dow fell nearly 1,000 points at one point … before rocketing right on back. For the day, the major indices were off about 3%.

The NYSE and Nasdaq have canceled trades of 296 companies from Thursday, including Accenture and Boston Beer, which both fell all the way to $0.01 at one point.

Here at the Fool, we're using May 6 as a reminder to focus on the long term -- because sometimes the daily machinations of the stock market aren't tied to the underlying value of the businesses.

If you missed what happened, here's a roundup with news, commentary, and analysis:

In review

Collateral damage

Community take

News from the Associated Press



The May 6 Meltdown. What Happened?

Real Estate News

HootSuite - Social Media Dashboard