What should investors watch in 2012? As the new year dawns, there are plenty of short-term issues on the horizon, ranging from the eurozone to fiscal gridlock in the US to upheavals in the Middle East.
But amid that list there is also another, often ignored, question to ponder: could 2012 produce a repeat of the “flash crash”, the bizarre episode that hit the US equity markets back on May 6 2010?
Think about it for a moment. A full 18 months have passed since that strange episode, which caused the Dow Jones to tumble 650 points in half an hour, wiping $850bn off share prices, before rebounding. Since then, the issue has faded from view amid the eurozone drama.