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ECB Financial Times

Inaccurate Financial Times European Central Bank tweet causes market stir

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By John McCarthy, Opinion Editor

December 4, 2015 | 2 min read

The Financial Times has inadvertently influenced stock markets to the tune of millions of dollars after accidentally publishing an inaccurate article minutes before the European Central Bank’s (ECB) deposit rate announcement.

FT staff vote for strike action

An editorial error published an incorrect forecast – pre-empting the ECB’s official statement with one of two pre-written articles.

Even worse, the publisher’s automated social media arrangement saw the story tweeted to savvy investors who reacted immediately as documented by the following tweet.

The publication issued an apology for the incident: “The story was wrong and should not have been published.

“The FT deeply regrets this serious mistake and will immediately be reviewing its publication and workflow processes to ensure such an error cannot happen again. We apologise to all our readers.”

There could be a backlash against the Nikkei-owned publication as investors could hold its misinformation liable for their losses.

ECB Financial Times

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