In a fine example of the US and the UK being two countries divided by a common language, while program trading on Wall Street means using computers to do things like compare option prices with the prices of the latest shares, and once they get sufficiently out of line, buying one en masse and selling the other, and automatically buying or dumping stock when key indicators hit pre-set levels, in London, a programme trade appears to mean the liquidation of a portfolio – and mercifully, another US shareholder practice has so far not made it over here, that of the nuisance class action lawsuit when a company fails to do as well as investors expected: over here, unhappy investors confine themselves to remarks like the one from an MBS Plc shareholder to the Financial Times – I feel terribly disappointed; I bought into the company because it was to be headed by two IBM directors, and I thought it was a marvellous opportunity; there appears to be a jinx on the company and on the board; now the auction begins for the fairly cash-endowed rump of MBS.
