The power of the British press on the markets

Catherine Boyle, a staff writer for CNBC.com, notes that investors were beside themselves after stories appeared in the Guardian and the Mail, two London newspapers, that moved markets.

Boyle writes, “So why are traders listening to them rather than the more sober, business-specific news outlets?

“One factor that gives these reports a huge amount of power is, of course, the Internet, which means that reports can be read and passed on within seconds by more and more people globally.

“While twenty years ago a trader reading a report in a British newspaper would have to pick up the phone and call one person in his bank’s New York office, now he can cut and paste a link into an email to his entire trading floor, hit send, and spread the news to thousands.

“The power of these stories to move markets also demonstrates just how sensitive markets are at the moment.”

Read more here.