Markets: Trader Arrested Over 2010 ‘flash Crash’
A high-frequency trader based in London was arrested this week over his alleged role in the May 2010 “flash crash,” said Douwe Miedema and Sarah N. Lynch in Reuters.com. U.S. prosecutors charged Navinder Singh Sarao, 36, with wire and commodities fraud, among other charges, for allegedly using automated computer programs to artificially manipulate share prices. On May 6, 2010, Sarao placed and withdrew thousands of stock orders worth millions of dollars each, prosecutors said, contributing to a virtual free fall in the Dow Jones industrial average and briefly wiping nearly $1 trillion from global markets.
Mobile: Google tweaks its search algorithm
Tuesday was a panic-inducing day for businesses that rely on customers finding them via Google, said Jefferson Graham in USA Today. The tech giant rolled out changes to the way its search engine ranks web pages, with sites that are deemed “mobile friendly” now ranked higher in results than those that are only optimized for desktops. Tech writers dubbed the algorithm tweak Mobilegeddon, since as many as 40 percent of top websites haven’t been updated to meet Google’s mobile standards.
Energy: EU accuses Russia’s Gazprom of unfair pricing
“Brace yourselves for a gas war,” said Ivana Kottasova in CNN.com. European Union regulators filed antitrust charges against the Russian energy giant Gazprom this week, accusing the firm of using its dominant position in the European energy market to manipulate natural gas prices and “hinder the free flow of gas across the continent.” Nearly a third of Europe’s natural gas comes from Russia, and 15 percent flows through Ukraine. EU officials were reportedly ready to pursue charges last year but held off in order to avoid undermining cease-fire negotiations in Ukraine.
Food safety: Blue Bell Creameries issues total recall
Blue Bell Creameries issued a nationwide recall of its products this week, after illnesses in four states were linked to a potentially deadly bacterium in its ice cream, said Brady Dennis in The Washington Post. Federal health officials say three people in Kansas died after contracting listeriosis from eating Blue Bell products contaminated with listeria; seven others in Kansas, Texas, Arizona, and Oklahoma have also fallen ill. The 108-year-old, Texas-based Blue Bell is the country’s fourth-largest ice cream maker.
see also finance and business knowledge
