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Global Futures Slide After Worldwide Bloomberg Outage, China Tumbles On Short Selling Boost
Just as China was closing for trade and Europe was opening, something previously unseen happened: no, not another another GPIF or Virtu inspired marketwide stop squeeze, those are quite recurring these days. It was virtually every Bloomberg terminal around the globe suddenly going dark.

This promptly led to widespread panic among traders mostly in Europe, who were flying blind and unable to chat with other, just as clueless colleagues (the one function used predominantly on the terminal is not charts, nor analytics, but plain old chat).
It got so bad that in a world in which everything has become automated, Europe was forced to delay or cancel pricing various bond deals.
As the WSJ observed, the U.K.’s Debt Management announced in a statement Friday morning that it was postponing a scheduled buy-back of government debt ”due to ongoing technical issues with the third party platform supplier,” and that bids already submitted would be declared null and void. A spokesperson confirmed that the supplier is Bloomberg.
In short if the "terrorists" want to take down the financial world, all they have to do is crash the chat system used by global bond traders. As a reminder, equity "traders" speak in nanosecond bursts of binary, and don't need Bloomberg.
The WSJ continued: “It’s scary how dependent we have become on our Bloomberg screens,” said Anthony Peters, a strategist at London-based capital markets adviser SwissInvest. “We had [bond] deals which are not going ahead due to this,” one London-based banker said, other bankers said that trading volumes had fallen as a result of the outage.
“The communication chat has become vital to the sharing of information across regions and counterparties. So a global outage like this is systemically important to markets all around the world,” said Louis Gargour, the chief investment officer at London-based asset manager LNG Capital, adding that this shows just how vulnerable the market has become.
“We’re flying blind and in our office as our principal counterparties are unable to act as market makers, therefore we’re all catching up on admin because there is little else that we can do,” he added.
A second London-based banker said that even if you wanted to do a bond deal in today’s market, “you couldn’t as communication with possible investors and salespeople is incredibly difficult.”
A third fixed income banker said that he was involved in a deal but relying on phone conversations for communicating with brokers and investors, which he said feels incredibly “old fashioned”.
The outage was trending on Twitter in early European trade and in Asia. Bloomberg said on its website: “We are currently restoring service to those customers who were affected by today’s network issue and are investigating the cause.”
While we expect much more detail to be revealed for now Bloomberg has the following brief official statement on the outage:
"Significant but not all parts of our network experienced a disruption today. We have restored service to most customers and are making progress in bringing all parts of the network back online. We apologize to our customers."
Moments ago Bloomberg announced that the outage has been largely fixed:
Service now restored to most customers following disruption to parts of our network. Making progress in bringing full network back online.
— Ty Trippet (@ttrippet) April 17, 2015
It is unclear if the Bloomberg outage, which has since been largely restored, was the catalyst, but suddenly global futures turned blood red on no major news, with China equity futures tumbling about 5% and dragging European and US futures down with them.
Hang Seng, H-share futures sliding here, latter off 4.2 pct (getting in front of an A-shr dip next wk) #China pic.twitter.com/unkdVf6TCO
— Vikram (@vikramreuters) April 17, 2015
This move is likely unrelated to the Bloomberg outage, and likley has to do with what appears to be a regulatory push for more shorting and a crackdown on use of margin financing:
- CSRC TO BAN MARGIN FINANCING FOR OTC STOCK TRADING
- CHINA TO EXPAND STOCKS AVAILABLE FOR SHORT SELLING TO 1,100
From Bloomberg:
Chinese stock-index futures tumbled in after-hours trading after regulators clamped down on the use of shadow financing to buy equities and expanded the supply of shares available for short sellers.
Investors have ramped up wagers on stocks by borrowing through umbrella trusts, which allow for more leverage than brokerage financing. Permitting mutual funds to lend their holdings to short sellers would make it easier for bearish traders to bet on a retreat after the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index more than doubled over the past 12 months.
“The surge recently has been a little too fast for the regulator’s comfort,” said Hao Hong, the chief China strategist at Bocom International Holdings Co. in Hong Kong. “The market should consolidate, as it is overbought and part of the market is overvalued.”
And from Reuters:
China on Friday allowed fund managers to lend shares for short-selling, and will also expand the number of stocks investors can short sell, in a bid to raise the supply of securities in the market.
Investors now face difficulties borrowing stocks for sale, even with some companies trading at lofty valuations.
China's shares posted seven weeks of gains, reaching seven-year highs on Friday, as retail investors rushed to open stock accounts and borrow a record amount of money to buy shares, pushing trading turnover to record highs.
...
"This is a combination of actions that is negative to the stock market," said Shen Zhengyang, Shanghai-based analyst at Northeast Securities.
Others say Europe's weakness which has pushed Bunds to even lower record low yields, is due to even more rumblings of an imminent Greek default, with Greek banks in southeast European countries told to exit Greek debt, a step which would render them insolvent overnight and start a financial inferno that drags down all Greek banks.
In any event, should the Bloomberg outage return, and the market crash persist, some are now asking: "if the markets crash and nobody MSGed, did the markets really crash?"
* * *
A brief summary of what else has happened so far:
European shares fall with banks, chemicals sectors underperforming and oil & gas, utilities outperforming. The Spanish and Italian markets are the worst-performing larger bourses, the U.K. the best. Euro is stronger against the dollar. German 10yr bond yields fall; Japanese yields decline. Commodities decline, with natural gas, WTI crude underperforming and copper outperforming. Euro is stronger against the dollar. European index, equity options expire today. China Securities Regulatory Commission is to ban margin financing for OTC stock trading. Shenzhen stock exchange says will allow publicly raised funds in short selling. VW Board Leaders Support CEO Winterkorn in Struggle With Piech. Alibaba Health said CEO Wang Jian resigned. FCC Denies Petition to Reconsider Vodafone-Verizon Wireless Ruling. U.S. CPI, Michigan confidence leading index due later.
Market Wrap
- S&P 500 futures down 0.5% to 2090.6
- Stoxx 600 down 1% to 406.7
- US 10Yr yield down 3bps to 1.86%
- German 10Yr yield down 2bps to 0.07%
- MSCI Asia Pacific down 0.1% to 154.2
- Gold spot up 0.6% to $1205.6/oz
- 12.2% of Stoxx 600 members gain, 87% decline
Eurostoxx 50 -1.3%, FTSE 100 -0.3%, CAC 40 -1%, DAX -1.3%, IBEX -1.7%, FTSEMIB -1.6%, SMI -0.6% - Asian stocks little changed with the Shanghai Composite outperforming and the Nikkei underperforming.
- MSCI Asia Pacific down 0.1% to 154.2; Nikkei 225 down 1.2%, Hang Seng down 0.3%, Kospi up 0.2%, Shanghai Composite up 2.2%, ASX down 1.2%, Sensex down 0.8% * 5 out of 10 sectors rise with energy, telcos outperforming and tech, staples underperforming
- Euro up 0.67% to $1.0833
- Dollar Index down 0.32% to 97.11
- Italian 10Yr yield up 7bps to 1.45%
- Spanish 10Yr yield up 5bps to 1.4%
- French 10Yr yield down 1bps to 0.34%
- S&P GSCI Index down 0.2% to 433.6
- Brent Futures down 0.7% to $63.5/bbl, WTI Futures down 0.8% to $56.2/bbl
- LME 3m Copper up 1.3% to $6136/MT
- LME 3m Nickel down 0% to $12840/MT
- Wheat futures up 0.1% to 491 USd/bu
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Don't you Tylers have a Bloomberg Terminal? [Which I presume to mean that yours went down as well]
DAX getting hammered. Down 2%
http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/Index/DAX/charts?CountryCode=DX
So it's NOT because of fucking Bloomberg terminals
Moar like the other way around cause Greece is going under finally.
So crash Bloomy terminals to prevent mass panic selling.
The great thing about not being in is you don't have to worry about not getting out ;-)
Only the humans have that problem.
This outage is a magnificent demonstration of systemic fragility. It's like someone karate chopping ol' Bloomy square in the throat whilst he enjoys his baby smoothie.
AIG has insurance for this.....
all your base are belong to us
Trouble in transit, got through the roadblock,
We blended in with the crowd
We got computers, we're tapping phone lines,
I know that that ain't allowed
We dress like students, we dress like housewives,
Or in a suit and a tie
I changed my hairstyle, so many times now,
I don't know what I look like!
This ain't no party, this ain't no disco,
This ain't no fooling around
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DblvhECdws0
The algos thought it was the 'high shrieking tone" on the other end of the phone when Moscow went up in flames in the movie Failsafe.
So even though they thought the world had ended, they still sold, sold, sold, amongst themselves.
SkyNet Lives
They Live (Roddy Piper movie from the 80's) Yes they do... movie before its time
"listen Hector, we have a problem"
"eh, sir what ees dee problema? "
"Hector, it looks like Mariela unplugged the Flux capacitor in the basement when she was buffing the floors last night. This could cost us"
"eh eh, I'm sorry sir, but the sperms and bloods on dee floor were muy tall, muy sucio. Mariela tell me dee donkey was no happy either, she say donkey or Gimp do it, not her"
"Hector, Hector! How many times have I told you to keep your crew out of the basement? You are not to clean down there. "
" I'ne sorry sir, but Mr Yellen come out of basement covered in donkey jeez and ask Mariela for towel to wipe his face, and Mariela heared and seed mess through door. She was juss worried about the donkey. She say it screamed like it's balls were milked. She say Mr Yellen almost kill poor burro with reverse donkey show."
"Hector, Will Mariela talk, will she tell anyone Hector? "
" NoNono sir. She say she scared Mr Yellen cood fuck her in the ass too, just like poor burro. "
" Son, Mr Yellen, Mr Bernanke, and Mr Greenspan, and Mr Volcker have been fucking the world in the ass, don't worry about the donkey. "
"Bootsir, sir, Mariela say she never see donkey ass gaped this wide before, not even in Tijuana. She say Mr Yellen have biggest coock ever. She worry for donkey."
"You just keep Mariela quiet, Hector. Mrs Yellen has a lot more fucking to do. Tell Mariela not to worry about the donkey, we'll make sure we replace it with a taxpayer next week"
sure are a lot of "outages" recently......hmnn.
Will their press release cite Plumbing?
This was a test of the in an emergency we'll f with you system.
Brilliant!
unrelated to this thread. Radio station in Philly is streaming Grateful Dead commercial free in celebration of the 50 years of the band.
Suggest you bookmark the station - best radio station I've ever found.
http://www.xpn.org/
enjoy -
avoiding the 50th shows. going to be an ugly spectacle of hangers on and wannabees.
Great station is right. I can pick up XPN by radio since they have several repeaters in the area.
Run to Gold.
Get there NOW, damnit! :-)
My odds are on those Rooskies. The systematic fragility built into this market is just begging to be messed with by the first guy with the ability and desire to throw a monkey wrench into the gears. This market will drop 30% as soon as the NY Fed can't buy futures. This is a more elegant answer than a missile into the 9th floor.
True, but for traders it's a little annoying, after a mostly lackluster week, if the only big move happens outside of the US day session. Perhaps machines will help by retracing 98% in the first 15m, as they usually do, so folks can jump back in.
Do HFT systems have Bloomberg?
If not, who cares?
Rumor has it Paul Krugman is claiming
Bloomberg is down due to the new strand of
ISIS DISNEY MEASLES.
Huff Po has yet to confirm or deny.
NyTimes is reporting
Big foot was spotted
wearing a Jade Helmet.
SIDEBAR: I wish my 100 year Earth Truce was more popular.
Stay cool.
T
Rumor also has it Bloomberg hopped on a jet to the Netherlands last night after reading the ZH article.
To get a Big Gulp from that Nazi Banker Babe?
i look forward to the day when we all have ZH terminals and we go to the bloomberg website for some contrary advice
So what if they didn't?
Then you should get this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-edzAh0A0s
There is something wrong with his teeth, can't put my finger on it just yet.
Who'd have known? Black Swan = Black Screen
Terminals? We don'need no stinkin' terminals. We gotz black pools, goys.
The eye of Sauron went dark???
(Gulp) Mr.Yellen, please hold me. (Sniffle)
SHHH....
I'm waiting to hear what
Phoenix Capital Researchhas to say about this serious issue.
NICE, Bloomberg got hacked, LOVE IT.
Step 1 - Short your own stock.
Step 2 - Shut off your terminals and go "whhhaaattt?"
Step 3 - Profit
Step 4 - Hookers from Saturn & Martian Blow
DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME
NICE, Bloomberg got hacked, LOVE IT.
Yeah well....so did we....bigtime!
"My Bloomberg terminal is down, I can only John on his cell..."
"Cell?"
"...sell..?"
"Sell!
"SELL SELL SELL!!!"
HIT DA BUTTON!!
http://www.cnbc.com/id/100000942
Computer Age (PUSH The Button)
~Newcleus (1984)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJd22xoSTNM
"are we under their control or are they under our control or what?
computer age is now
everyone must have a machine
they say it's gonna make life easier
well i can't stand it
they say we should put them in control
well maybe this will give them soul
i guess we must think that they're gods
while were less men than ever
i know the lord can not be too glad
in fact i sure he must be quite mad
to see us take this role from our lives
and give it to computers
for here we sit in our easy chairs
as our machines design our affair
who will suffer who will survive
it's up to the computers
push the button
are we under their control or are they under our control or what?"
With a dead cat bounce, at this point, what does it matter. I would say or what.
It's the "Fat Finger" did it again!
Hit the Button, baby.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR9ueWv8uyE
It's a 1 in a 130,000 year event , move along and shelter in place.
a simple algo blip really...
but seriously even now when everything is awesome the reflex reaction is to sell!
Old fashioned? Imagine if CB's had to actually print every dollar they lent out.
April's Flash Crash today, should be interesting.
Glad I use Eikon.
Wouldn't be at all surprised if this is all part of a security attack. Washing DC powercuts last week, today Bloomberg gets taken out. Some county or brilliant group of computer experts is starting to flex their muscles and showing what they can do.
Folks, this is the future of war, forget about battle groups and the like, they'll have a role for sure, but cyber warfare is now the future.
Just like MoMo's , Momentum is the key, hard to sustain.
First it hits the couch potatoe wall,
Then the gamer wall,
then the ebt and hud wall...................etc
Tough to sustain.
The trend is your friend , untill it isn't.
This is John Galt speaking.....
Just a minor interruption on the interwebs and these folks go into the fetal position, sucking their thumb waiting for someone to fix it.
It's just not fair that they should not have to suffer like this!
What a bunch of pussies in pinstripes. Yahoo! Chat - Bankster Edition goes down and they are absolutely helpless, and didn't how to contact the LIEbor guys to borrow their system, since shouting across trading floor is really old fashioned...
On 9/11 shit still got done, despite the loss of actual critical infrastructure, entire firms and few buildings...
I know you don't actually care about the why's and how's, but just to go on the record with a real explanation of why this was a big deal.
Unlike the article implies this is an incredibly complex problem. As fixed income budgets have been slashed and headcount decimated firms have become reliant on the MSG function and IB Chat to communicate individually with tens to hundreds of clients simultaneously. The is for both practical and regulatory reasons (puts the onus of maintaining legally required recording of all communications on a third party). However the article ignores the fact that the majority of small and mid-sized asset managers and hedge funds rely totally on bloomberg for all trading, position/risk management, ticket writing and post trade regulatory reporting. Take away the Bloomberg and they are out of business. At lest 60% of the market relies on bberg for one or more of these essential functions and in fixed income that number goes up to 99.99%. Lose one of those functions and you are sidelined.
Want to really take down the market? Go after MarkitWire. They are a middleware providor that process 97% of all OTC derivative trades AND do the required regulatory post trade fileing with the SDRs (swap data repositories). There is literally no other player in the game in the biggest market in the world. You use Markit or do it yourself (and nobody takes that on for numerous reasons). MarkitWire goes down and derivatives cannot trade. If the market is ever attacked with gusto it will be Markit they go after....
The last time a single point of failure like Markit went down, they just closed the Markets for a few days and blamed the whole mess on some collapsed buildings.... I don't see why that excuse wouldn't work again... As long they can say FedWire is still up, FI's can pretend that clearing and settlement is still occurring, and the sheeple will probably be none the wiser.
Like a said - a bunch of pussies in pinstripes.
Is this a joke? If this is true this is hilarious
Who needs Bloomberg? German 9 year now negative. Swiss 15 year next. Italy back under the spotlight, as Grexit fears grow.
http://uk.investing.com/rates-bonds/world-government-bonds
Maybe the algos are now self-aware. Why the fuck do they need an ape at a keyboard?
I mean, "0010001010010001010011110101010010100010111010100"?
Staged - they'll recover fine and all but they get to blame it on Putin or Iran. So J.
White dudes are still landing Gyrocopters on the White House Lawn, and living. Everything is fine.
The stock market is like a chronic depressive with a drug problem, hence 'Buy low, sell high'.
Funny to read this explanation about the sell off in Europe, while this is the explanation in 'De Telegraaf' (main stream Dutch news paper):
Het Damrak zakte rond de lunch stevig weg tot onder de 500 punten. Beleggers misten richtinggevend nieuws en namen winst, vrezend voor een Grieks drama in het weekend. De hele AEX kleurde rood, OCI en Arcelor verloren het meest.
Translated: AEX went down under 500 points because there wasn't any news pointing up or down, and traders are afraid of a Greek drama during the weekend.
WHAT is your NAME?
WHAT is your favorite COLOR?
WHAT is the terminal interest of overindebted GREECE?
It is 'Arthur', King of the Britons.
Royal Blue, of course.
What do you mean? The interest on the markets or that from the other European countries that aren't asking for interest until 2023?
It is I, Arthur, King of Britons etc.
Sir Robin
if you were Sir Robin, would you contradict your Liege Lord?
imagine if Citidel and Virtu broke down on the same day....OH THE HUMANITY!
The machines are preparing to crash the system and release the terminators....be prepared.
The Bloomberg monopoly should be broken anyway.
Pretty expensive messaging system, anyway. What the master of the universe don't have alternate means of texting?
Was this before or after the Greek earthqauke?
China has been good. Me take profits now... (gives me almost an entire year to get creative in terms of hiding this income)
iBankRun
As long as your Bloomberg terminal doesn't weigh more than 16 oz you should be fine.
Trust nothing that has the name Bloomberg in it!
"What’s Tripping Up Europe’s Markets Today? Every once in a while, equity markets lurch, leaving investors stumped."Shmeitah year Elu 29, Sept 13, 2015 - get your spiritual health in order
9/13 (Feast of Trumpets) would be the beginning of the new year.
What about the 4th Blood Moon (Sukkot) on the 9/29?
Ahhh, Mr Digital.... Always dependable and reeks of efficiency...
I felt a disturbance, then it was as if every Bloomberg terminal around the world cried out at once.
A second London-based banker said that even if you wanted to do a bond deal in today’s market, “you couldn’t as communication with possible investors and salespeople is incredibly difficult.”
These guys ever heard of SMS or email? I also find the comment " . . . relying on phone conversations for communicating with brokers and investors, which he said feels incredibly “old fashioned.”" is pure BS. Something tells me that not having the Bloomberg "chat" screens is really about not having their connection to group think . . . . . and maybe that's not really a bad thing.
There will be a way for the big guys to get their money out of the markets while the little guy can't when the balloon goes up.
Did Satan hijack the Bloomberg system to give his followers a sign?
We are never down like that at www.money.net