Manic Market

Is computer-driven stock trading good for America?

Never in U.S. financial history has there been a collection of commotions quite like the Great Stock Market Spectacular of 1986. Up! Up! Up! Down! Down! Down! The Dow Jones average of industrial stocks is taking sharper, swifter leaps and dives than ever before. Buy! Buy! Buy! Sell! Sell! Sell! The biggest stock boom on record is leading to manic levels of activity on the nation's exchanges. Win! Win! Win! Millions, even billions, are being pocketed almost overnight, in split-second transactions affecting the fate of some of America's most important corporations. Lose! Lose! Lose! At the same time, Wall Street is...

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