What happened on May 6, 2010? In 30 historic minutes, the Dow plummeted nearly 1,000 points, then shot back up into the range of reason. The boomerang sent shockwaves through the market, leaving some stocks reeling and others through the roof -- all while traders watched helplessly, their computer systems paralyzed by volume-driven glitches.
At the end of the day, there were lots of theories about what went wrong -- protests in Athens and concerns for a European death-spin, a fat-thumbed broker, broken circuits at the New York Stock Exchange -- but no clear answers.
Fool analyst Eric Bleeker woke up this morning expecting that the world would have figured it all out. Boy, was he wrong. Twenty-four hours later, investors remain largely in the dark, while flashlight beams swing toward the data security at the heart of the market. Amid all these uncertainties, one thing's for sure: Truly Foolish investors didn't suffer any panic attacks yesterday; they were focused on the long term.
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