My buddies over at Morningstar pretty much pooh-pooh the "fat finger" explanation/rumor.
Because NYSE halted trading temporarily, the programs went looking for buyers outside the exchange where there were no bids. So you got crazy trades at $0.01, etc.
Obviously there are some issues with all this crazy high frequency program trading going on! And with programs and exchanges SO STUPID that they go ahead and trade when one side is a penny? Glad they didn't execute any of my trades!
I think the talk in the next few weeks will be the serious issues today with all-electronic exchanges and program trading.
It that respect this was just like 1987 folks, where program trading gone awry caused a stock market crash. Now, I don't necessarily hold out hope that we recover as quickly as obviously we have a lot more economic challenges today than back then.
Audrey
That makes more sense. If only one stock tanked, I could have believed the fat finger explanation, but too many stocks tanked at the same time for this explanation to hold IMO.