War on TV takes over share trading
CNN's Abid Ali
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Television monitors on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange keep traders up to date on the war in Iraq.
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SPECIAL REPORT
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LONDON, England (CNN) -- The war in Iraq has spawned a whole new way investors are buying and selling shares.
Investors are watching every twist and turn and basing their decisions on the way 24-hours channels are reporting the war.
"We call it TV trading," David Buik, managing director at Cantor Index, told CNN.
"The little pockets of activity we are seeing are dependent on the last horrific scene on CNN or the co-ordinated spin from the White House, President (George W.) Bush and (British) Prime Minister Tony Blair without which the markets would be in disarray." Buik said.
"Television has been part of trading floors for sometime adding value but not causing markets to move but now war coverage on television is dominating trading."
Last week, in the run up to war and as U.S. troops raced across deserts towards Baghdad, global stock markets rallied; the London's FTSE 100 rose more than 7 percent, Frankfurt's Xetra Dax soared 13 percent, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average shot up 9 percent.
But as every turn of the war was played out on television screens investors have become more concerned about the length of the war and the impact it would have on the economy. Stock markets are volatile.
"Trading is very light, very volatile and investors have no appetite. Everyone's confidence is shot to ribbons," Buik said. "There's real concern about the impact of this war on the global economy, which has been in a downturn for a year and a half."
"There was real hope this would be over quickly but now we're in this for the long haul."
