`WITCHING HOUR' EFFECT CAN SET OFF FLURRY ON WALL STREET.Byline: Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. The ``triple witching witch·ing adj. 1. Relating to or characteristic of witchcraft. 2. Having the power to charm or enchant; bewitching. n. Witchcraft; sorcery. hour'' comes to Wall Street four times a year, on a Friday in the last month of each calendar quarter. It occurs with the concurrent expiration of groups of stock index futures Index Futures A futures contract on a stock or financial index. For each index there may be a different multiple for determining the price of the futures contract. Notes: For example, the S&P 500 index is one of the most widely traded index futures contracts in the U.S. , stock index options and options on individual stocks. Professional investors who engage in sophisticated trading strategies involving the options and futures, and the underlying stocks, often must buy or sell large amounts of those securities to settle up their positions at expiration. This can lead to unusually heavy trading volume Trading volume The number of shares transacted every day. As there is a seller for every buyer, one can think of the trading volume as half of the number of shares transacted. That is, if A sells 100 shares to B, the volume is 100 shares. , and sometimes exaggerated price swings, at the witching hour. |
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