The Bloomberg network of financial data terminals failed globally. So, the massive glitch sent the US stock markets crashing. Both Dow Jones and S&P 500 plummeted despite notable growth of the US consumer confidence index. The three-hour outage left the disastrous aftermath as the system is used by most of the world’s biggest financial firms and even central banks. The system reports live data for stocks, bonds, currencies, commodities (oil, gold, etc), and other complex financial metrics. The failure disrupted numerous deals and even forced the UK Treasury to postpone a £3 billion debt auction for a few hours. Smooth operation of terminals generates almost 85% of a firm’s revenue. From traders’ viewpoint, activities of financial information providers should be supervised by regulatory agencies. In its statement of apology, Bloomberg said that it made concerted efforts to tackle the trouble. Importantly, Bloomberg, which prides itself on its resilience and accuracy, provides traders with up-to-the-minute financial news online charging them a subscription fee of £16,000 annually. The havoc caused by the hours-long outage may lead to questions about the financial community’s dependence on the system.
