Fake White House bomb report causes brief stock market panic

A tweet from The Associated Press Twitter account claiming the White House had been bombed caused investors to suddenly push the Dow down more than 100 points in two minutes Tuesday before it became clear the report was untrue and AP's account had been hacked.

At 1:07 p.m., the following tweet appeared from The Associated Press: "Breaking: Two Explosions in the White House and Barack Obama Injured."

Reaction on the stock market was swift, as what had been a mildly positive day on the Dow Jones quickly turned negative, with America's benchmark stock index losing more than 134 points or more than a full per cent of its value in a matter of seconds.

Within minutes, it had become clear that the report was untrue, and the result of AP's account being hacked. White House spokesperson Jay Carney told journalists at a press briefing in Washington, "The president is fine. I was just with him."

Twitter moved to suspend AP's account until the agency could regain control of the account.

That caused an equally swift reaction, with the Dow regaining everything it had lost and then some within 10 minutes of the original tweet.

Reports suggest more than $20 billion worth of equity positions changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange during the brief trading hiccup.

The TSX was relatively unscathed, with Canada's benchmark stock index losing about 35 points in the aftermath of the report before gaining it all back and then some.

At the close of trading, the S&P/TSX composite index was at 12,090.94, up less than one point.

[View the story "Associated Press hack briefly sinks markets in latest nefarious Twitter trend" on Storify]

Storified by CBC News Community· Tue, Apr 23 2013 11:47:19

Early Tuesday afternoon, the Associated Press's Twitter account published a bogus report about an incident at the White House.

Usually tweets via SocialFlow. Most recent is "web" @laurenonizzle: @AP is totally hacked. @stefanjbecket: AP hacked? http://i.imgur.com/KJxbrAZ.pngJohn Bowman

Almost instantly, twitter streams were flooded with retweets ranging from the dumbfounded to the incredulous.

Is this real? It doesn't seem real. RT @ap: Breaking: Two Explosions in the White House and Barack Obama is injuredSheena Goodyear

Please tell me this account got hacked... RT @AP: Breaking: Two Explosions in the White House and Barack Obama is injuredJB Long

Markets responded almost instantly, as the Dow Jones dropped 144 points in the minute the tweet was published, only to recover shortly after.

WOW, so hacked @AP account reports explosions in the White House w/ @BarackObama injured and the Dow just COLLAPSES http://pic.twitter.com/eiG3y61ZL3Jameson Berkow

On Earth 2, fake AP tweet causes global depression.Andrew Kaczynski

Remember few years ago when some senior journos told me nobody but other journos cared about news on Twitter, Dow drop shows influence now.Neal Mann

Shortly afterwards, the @AP Twitter account from which the tweet was published got suspended and AP employees took to Twitter to confirm the hack, including one of its vice presidents.

AP Twitter account was hacked and false report made about attack on WHJohn Daniszewski

From @AP story: Incident "came after hackers made repeated attempts to steal the passwords of @AP journalists." (Including my own today.)Jon Gambrell

This incident comes at a time when many high-profile social media accounts have been getting breached, including a number of CBS News accounts this past weekend.

60 Minutes was hacked. http://pic.twitter.com/BodV8np7YHAndrew Kaczynski

Other notorious hacks this year include Burger King and Jeep.

.@Jeep Glad everything is back to normal.BurgerKing

.@BurgerKing Thanks BK. Let us know if you want to grab a burger and swap stories - we'll drive.Jeep

As for AP, it didn't take very long for the jokes and parody tweets to come pouring in.

AP Stylebook: Use strong passwords like "password", 1234, or even better 4321 ...WillSeattle

Reddit has identified seven people as the White House bombersWalter Hickey

Breaking: Entire city of Boston shut down while authorities search for @AP hackersWilliam K. Wolfrum

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