-Hackers Tweet Alleged Explosion at the White House
AMERICA’s stock market plunged in early afternoon trading
Tuesday, briefly wiping out a triple-digit advance by the Dow Jones Industrial, after a fake tweet appeared on the Associated Press’s twitter feed describing a terror attack on the White House.
During the momentary plunge, the Dow fell 145 points, turning briefly negative for the day after being up more than 135 points.
It quickly rebounded and was lately up 120 points.
Treasury prices surged at the same time, sending interest rates sharply lower before the Associated Press said it had been hacked. Oil also fell sharply during the period before the tweet was retracted.
The AP’s Twitter feed falsely said that there had been two explosions at the White House. Here’s the subsequent explanatory tweet from the wire service.
Breaking 911 took a screenshot of the fake tweet on the AP Twitter feed before the AP account was suspended and the tweet taken down.
Twitter’s impact on financial and general news has been surging. The Securities and Exchange Commission said this month that companies can use the service to disseminate corporate information. And Bloomberg added Twitter to its widely used trading terminals this month.
Social media was also in focus during the Boston Marathon bombings and subsequent manhunt for the perpetrators.
Twitter had no comment on the fake tweet.
- Courtesy: Marketwatch