Diebold Plunge May Show How ‘Dueling Algorithms’ Roil Markets
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Just as a June 2 meeting with investors was starting, Diebold Inc. Chief Executive Officer Thomas Swidarski saw his company’s share price plummet more than 30 percent in six seconds.
As Swidarski and his colleagues tried to figure out what to say at their meeting, the price shot back up. By the end of the day, more than 6 million shares of the Canton, Ohio-based maker of ATM machines had traded, about 11 times the usual volume. The stock closed at $29.08, 3 percent higher than its opening.