# Dow Jones down at 3PM -465.37 **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 27, 2007, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dow-jones-down-at-3pm-465-37/393928 "2007-02-27T20:33:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bonitahi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7993a0/32.png) [@bonitahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonitahi)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dow-jones-down-at-3pm-465-37/393928/1 "2007-02-27T20:33:05Z")
What’s the rational for a one day drop of -465.37 ? ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dow-jones-down-at-3pm-465-37/393928/2 "2007-02-27T20:41:24Z")
Isn’t it that the Dow is reacting to an 8.8% tumble in the [Shanghai Composite Index](http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070227/world_markets.html?.v=21)? The linked article says that China is contemplating a capital gains tax, and that this accounts for the Chinese stock market plunge. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dow-jones-down-at-3pm-465-37/393928/3 "2007-02-27T20:43:08Z")
A simple search of news sites reveals … > [@](#): > > NEW YORK (AP) – Stocks plummeted Tuesday, briefly hurtling the Dow Jones industrials down more than 500 points as Wall Street succumbed to a global market plunge sparked by growing concerns that the U.S. and Chinese economies are cooling and that equities prices have become overinflated. > > A 9 percent slide in Chinese stocks, which came a day after investors sent Shanghai’s benchmark index to a record high close, set the tone for U.S. trading. The Dow began the day falling sharply, and the decline accelerated throughout the course of the session before stocks took a huge plunge in late afternoon as computer-driven sell programs kicked in. Source: [2007 Ferrari first owned by Trump sells for record $270K - Breitbart](http://www.breitbart.com/news/2007/02/27/D8NI9BEG0.html) > [@](#): > > NEW YORK ([CNNMoney.com](http://CNNMoney.com)) – Stock selling accelerated Tuesday afternoon as falling markets in China and Europe and a steep decline in durable goods orders sparked a rush for the exits on Wall Street. > > News that Vice President Dick Cheney was the apparent target in a Taliban suicide bombing attack in Afghanistan added to the day’s worries. Source: [http://money.cnn.com/2007/02/27/markets/markets\_0130/index.htm?cnn=yes](http://money.cnn.com/2007/02/27/markets/markets_0130/index.htm?cnn=yes) ---
**Author:** ![bonitahi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7993a0/32.png) [@bonitahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonitahi)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dow-jones-down-at-3pm-465-37/393928/4 "2007-02-27T21:38:43Z")
Thanks. Good info and link. Conservatives, some, in the US would like to eliminate the cap gains tax. Will be interesting to see how, if passed, the tax will affect their economy. ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dow-jones-down-at-3pm-465-37/393928/5 "2007-02-28T01:22:11Z")
ABC News, USA Today and other sources are reporting that a computer glitch sent the Dow down 200 points in a matter of minutes. This caused the market to drop even further because initially the traders didn’t know about the computer problem. Now that the traders know about the computer problem, we’ll see the market come back tomorrow. Actually tomorrow morning will be a great time to buy into the market because the computer glitch has sent the market lower than it should be. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dow-jones-down-at-3pm-465-37/393928/6 "2007-02-28T02:28:38Z")
[QUOTE=Mangosteen] Now that the traders know about the computer problem, we’ll see the market come back tomorrow. Actually tomorrow morning will be a great time to buy into the market because the computer glitch has sent the market lower than it should be. [/QUOTE] Unless it drops further. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Stan\_Shmenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dow-jones-down-at-3pm-465-37/393928/7 "2007-02-28T02:41:30Z")
I am surprised that no-one has mentioned Greenspan’s comments yesterday, forecasting a recession later in the year. That could have been what triggered the Chinese markets. I picked up some SPY before the close today. Mangosteen- If the traders know something, it will be factored into prices at the open. You missed yer chance. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dow-jones-down-at-3pm-465-37/393928/8 "2007-02-28T03:24:56Z")
Or just blame it all on [The Drudge Report](http://www.usnews.com/usnews/biztech/capitalcommerce/070227/did_the_drudge_report_help_tan.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dow-jones-down-at-3pm-465-37/393928/9 "2007-02-28T03:30:19Z")
[QUOTE=samclem] Unless it drops further. 🙂 [/QUOTE] This might be a good time to approach your Governor about a plan to invest state funds in rare coins. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dow-jones-down-at-3pm-465-37/393928/10 "2007-02-28T03:40:09Z")
[QUOTE=Mangosteen] ABC News, USA Today and other sources are reporting that a computer glitch sent the Dow down 200 points in a matter of minutes. [/QUOTE] Well, sort of. The way I heard it, because of the volume, the computers were getting behind and weren’t reflecting the true value of the decline; at about 3:00PM, they suddenly caught up, and the true nature of the sell-off was revealed. It was not as though the 200 points didn’t evaporate, they just weren’t reported in a timely way. [Here it is:](http://marketplace.publicradio.org/shows/2007/02/27/PM200702271.html) > [@](#): > > DAVID JOHNSON: You know, actually, a remarkable day. And the . . . you know, we knew to be on our toes because you could see this coming. There was that big sell-off in China. And then there was a big sell-off in Europe. And then there was a fairly big sell-off here. We thought we’d kinda dodged the bullet but boy, that last hour was a killer. > > RYSSDAL: Well, what happened? I mean, you know, I stepped away from my desk, came back and we were down 300 more points. > > JOHNSON: Yeah, I know. And it happened to all of us. It literally was that quick. Right at, I guess 3 o’clock Eastern, 2 o’clock my time, noon your time. There was a drop of over 250 points in the Dow Industrial’s average. And your knee-jerk is to say, you know, some stupid clerk sold a million shares and only should have sold a thousand, and the computers did it or whatever. Now what we’re understanding is that it may well have been that the Dow — because of a miscalculation, maybe a computer error, software error — was understating the magnitude of the sell-off for some period of time. And so that it really, instead of down 260, we might have been down 310, and then a little later down 350 and then . . . But what happened is they switched computers, and it all caught up at once and . . . gee, I wish they’d never caught up. It was ugly. ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dow-jones-down-at-3pm-465-37/393928/11 "2007-02-28T03:54:19Z")
In the next few weeks, read about a bunch of hedge funds that collapsed. Don’t shed a tear for anybody that got crushed. They had it coming. ---
**Author:** ![muttrox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a8b319/32.png) [@muttrox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muttrox)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dow-jones-down-at-3pm-465-37/393928/12 "2007-02-28T16:22:23Z")
“They had it coming”? What kind of comment is that for a GQ question. Have you evaluated the moral worthiness of everyone who has money in a hedge fund?