Anyone that reads science fiction, particularly the type with a government conspiracy thread, immediately thought the same thing today. A record 1,000 point drop in less than an hour followed by a equally dramatic recovery sounds like Dr. Evil proving that he has installed a computer that controls the stock market. His victims (the government) did not believe his threats, so at 2 PM eastern he said watch this. By 2:40 the market was below 10,000 and by 3:00 pm it was back to 10,500. All together it was 700 points down and 500 points up all in 60 minutes.
And then he said that unless you meet my demands it will go down and stay down next time.
Who knows what is going to happen tomorrow!
Fox News I don't ordinarily read Fox News, but this piece has a particularly interesting spin on the thing -- talking about the exchanges cancelling trades.