Technical Glitch halts trading on FTSE

cactus flower wrote:

floatingingalway wrote:

Ard-Taoiseach wrote:

cactus flower wrote:

Ard-Taoiseach wrote:

floatingingalway wrote:

The plot gets thicker. Have a look at this.
All European stock exchanges are on an extended tea break. Some glitch!

This is all very strange, the FTSE and the ISEQ have completely different trading platforms. The LSE has its own system while we use the German Xetra, the Dublin Stock Exchange is, for all intents and purposes, merely an outpost of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The markets are only open if Frankfurt is open.

That graph on the ISEQ doesn't look entirely glitch-like, it just looks like it is treading water but that LSE link is very curious. This is quite odd.

The news said it was the longest break in trading for I think it was 8 years?

It would seem so. Why would they suddenly suspend trading across Europe? This has me thinking of the Twilight Zone and a grand conspiracy afoot. I wonder will US markets be affected by this?

It looks like they're having a bad day at the offices of nasdaq and dow jones

Bad day for the US tax payers, good day for the holders of bonds?

Ah, bonds...
Now that's where I get really confused

Jaysus - all I know is that Paulson says they will be looked after, and the shareholders can go and hang themselves. I'm on a learning curve. We need Slim Buddha and youngdan but they have gone to ground. Probably drinking their profits from today - I see Slim Buddha with a nice glass of sekt and youngdan with a Jack Daniels.

Bonds are just government borrowings I think. i.e., the Govt. sells bonds for cash to bond investors. Correct me if I'm wrong.

EvotingMachine0197 wrote:

Bonds are just government borrowings I think. i.e., the Govt. sells bonds for cash to bond investors. Correct me if I'm wrong.

You're right except for the just part. Companies as well sell bonds all the time to finance their long-term business objectives.

Ard-Taoiseach wrote:

EvotingMachine0197 wrote:

Bonds are just government borrowings I think. i.e., the Govt. sells bonds for cash to bond investors. Correct me if I'm wrong.

You're right except for the just part. Companies as well sell bonds all the time to finance their long-term business objectives.

Bonds and shares are similar except that bonds return long term like a mortgage ?? Or is it a lump sum at the end? Shares pay a dividend and generally appreciate in value or are bought with that idea in mind - something like that?

When shares are first floated, is all the money put in a bank or what? Or when a share goes up in price, is the money paid for the share banked by the company?

Auditor #9 wrote:

Ard-Taoiseach wrote:

EvotingMachine0197 wrote:

Bonds are just government borrowings I think. i.e., the Govt. sells bonds for cash to bond investors. Correct me if I'm wrong.

You're right except for the just part. Companies as well sell bonds all the time to finance their long-term business objectives.

Bonds and shares are similar except that bonds return long term like a mortgage? Or is it a lump sum at the end? Shares pay a dividend and generally appreciate in value or are bought with that idea in mind.

Bonds are different in that they don't give you ownership of the company, you're paid as a creditor before shareholders, bonds are less risky(usually) than equities(so when times are good, the spread between bonds and equities is low, the opposite when things are bad like now). Some bonds are paid at the end of the period in a lump sum and others are paid out in general instalments. Bonds are tricky things to sell nowadays since many have to borrow hundreds of millions in order to participate in auctions and/or sell existing bond positions. In a market where liquidity is absent, that is mighty tricky to arrange.

Shares don't always pay a dividend(Ryanair famously refuses to pay one) and it isn't legally binding for a plc to pay one. Companies also go ex-dividend for many weeks where any shares bought during the period are not eligible for dividend payments. In bull markets, any weakness in individual shares is usually linked with going ex-dividend since the practice reduces the relative attractiveness of the share. On the subject of generally appreciating in value, I draw your attention to this Buttonwood article

Quote :

When shares are first floated, is all the money put in a bank or what? Or when a share goes up in price, is the money paid for the share banked by the company?

It depends, Auditor. Sometimes the money goes to the company while sometimes it is taken by the individual shareholder. It all depends on the individual circumstances.

Today's Guardian points out that this was serious egg on face for London as a Trading Centre.

Could it be sabotage

or did the system just break from the weight of the herd of gadarene swine?