A confusing tweet referring to the 40th anniversary of the Yom Kippur war posted by the Official Israel Defense Forces caused oil prices rally on NYMEX, France-Presse informed on October 10.
The rally was triggered by the following message left by the Official Israel Defense Forces on Twitter: "Israel Air Force bombards airports in Syria to prevent Soviet weapons reaching Syrian Army." AFP said the tweet was marked with the hashtag #YomKippur73, also known as the 1973 October War or the Ramadan War.
The post was misread and immediately followed by a hike in the oil prices from $101.6 to $103 per barrel.
The market participants assumed that the quotes edged up mostly because the computer programs analyzing news containing “Syria” and “Israel” might have started buying into oil automatically.
The Yom Kippur war broke out on October 6, 1973 when a group of Arab countries headed by Syria and Egypt attacked Israel. The two countries were determined to get back the territory lost during the Six Day War in 1967. The first days were successful for the Arab alliance. Later however, Israeli troops turned proactive and launched a smashing counter-attack. The warfare lasted for 18 days, until United Nations Security Council Resolution 338 called for a ceasefire.
