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We all know that it’s not actually the message that is important but the way that the words are interpreted by those reading them. Never has that been more important than with Twitter. You only get 140 characters, which might be too much when we read some of the comments on there. But, for others it’s far from enough. Traders look like they could be needing a few more pages to get the full picture. Just a few days ago traders made a mistake when they read the tweet posted by the Israeli army on October 10th 2013. The tweet was to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the end of the Yom Kippur War in 1973. But traders in the world believed it was actually happening and acted immediately.
Oil Price
The traders of the financial markets thought that Israel [12] was indeed bombing airports in Syria so as to stop weapons getting to the Syrian army (that in itself is telling that we are still in the same set-up and scenario as we were 40 years ago. We haven’t moved on an inch, have we?). But, over and beyond the fact that the Israeli army was pretty backward in actually posting a 40th anniversary celebration in this way, the traders should also have read the entire tweet and seen that Soviets don’t exist anymore and haven’t done for the past 22 years. We call them Russians now. Do traders actually know that?
Nothing had actually happened, but because of the Tweet traders started panic buying petrol thinking that there was going to be a major hike in prices. They caused the hike themselves by buying up as much as possible and oil rose. Just how good is it to take decisions like buying petrol on the say-say of a tweet? When the traders realized what had happened, the prices didn’t drop immediately. I guess they needed time to cash in on their error and make some money for the banks before the prices came back down to normal.
- Oil prices rose by $1 a barrel, increasing from $110.40 to $111.50.
- Prices rose even more (despite the knowledge that it was a mistake) reaching $111.74 per barrel.
- The price of petrol has not reached that level for a month now.
Just like everyone, the traders are hooked in drip-feed fashion on their Twitter accounts grappling for every snippet of information that might have an effect on the markets. Might be a good idea for someone to make a mint. If you have friends somewhere in a high place, then get them to tweet, buy the commodity and then sell it at a profit. Easy.
Twitter Typos?
But, what country would gain anything more than propaganda votes from a tweet that celebrates the bombarding of airports in Syria, whether that be in the past or the present? That’s the trouble with Twitter and the fact that you are your own worst enemy sometimes, able to post what you like and when you like. At least there is Politwoops [13] that allows us to see the tweets that are posted and then deleted by our politicians in the US.
- Democrat James E. Clyburn wrote “Ggfhdieodgih”, which pretty much sums up the extent of his thinking perhaps.
- Newt Gingrich (Republican) thinks that he has someone else inside his body when the talks in the third person: “Newt is backstage. Ready to take the podium”, thankfully deleted after 7 minutes.
- Buddy Roemer (former 52nd Governor of Louisiana) once asked on Twitter “What is a FUBAR?”. There are just some questions that we should avoid asking, otherwise it’s the enquirer that ends up being that “Beyond All Recognition”.
Ambiguity is a splendid thing especially if it has a twist of humour thrown in for good measure. Except this time, the twitter account of the Israeli army should have been read with greater care. We could end up with another price rise in petrol that we could do without because a couple of traders can’t read English correctly somewhere in the offices of investors. Traders should pay more attention to what they are doing as they have a direct effect on our lives. The Israeli army should also watch out what they post in memory of their wars and gaining benefit from the bombarding of an airport, wherever that may be is no cause for rejoicing.
It’s no longer a Tweet if that happens it’s just a Twit, with all the foolishness of that trait of character rolled into one.
Other than that the traders of the financial markets have proved themselves to be nothing more than limmings in the purchase of their wished-for-articles after reading a simple post, however enthusiastic it may have been. They lost all of their skills in the individual-thought process long ago and just act in groups these days. What the others do, they have to do for fear of being left out. FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) Twits; that's what they are.
Originally posted: Petrol Increase because Traders Can’t Read [14]
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Technical Analysis: Bear Expanding Triangle [34] | Bull Expanding Triangle [35] | Bull Falling Wedge [36]| Bear Rising Wedge [37]| High & Tight Flag [38]
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