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However there is widespread speculation that some of the crucial ‘sell’ orders which sparked the panic were placed by computers which – much like the fictional VIXAL-4 – attempt to predict the direction of markets by analysing breaking news headlines.
To this end, it is intriguing to note the contents of an article that was published on the website of the Financial Times newspaper (FT) at the all-important time of exactly 00.07am.
Headlined ‘Hollande demands tough Brexit negotiations’, it contained quotes from a Thursday night dinner in Paris at which the French president, Francois Hollande, announced that Britain would have to ‘suffer’ for choosing to leave the European Union. ‘There must be a price’ for Brexit was how he put it.
Importantly, the tone of the FT piece, and the robust language in both its headline and major quotes, made it especially likely to have been flagged by algorithms.
In this particular case, the machines may have concluded that Mr Hollande’s comments raised the medium-term risk of a trade war that might weaken the pound and strengthen the dollar.
Do these poor computers have to read the Daily Mail as well?
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