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Day Traders Confuse Retiring Baseball Player for Bank of Japan's Governor

Day Traders Confuse Retiring Baseball Player for Bank of Japan's Governor

(Bloomberg) -- There was momentary alarm on Japanese social media overnight after a well-known day trader tweeted news of a press conference announcing the resignation of Kuroda. Some day traders jumped to the conclusion that Haruhiko Kuroda, governor of the Bank of Japan, was suddenly poised to step down.

Fortunately, before momentum could build in the yen it became clear that the Kuroda in question was actually Hiroki Kuroda, a pitcher for the Hiroshima Carp baseball team.

Day Traders Confuse Retiring Baseball Player for Bank of Japan's Governor

The tweet by @okasanman, who has over 77,000 followers, was prosaic enough. It simply cited an "emergency press conference on Kuroda's resignation" — without properly identifying the Kuroda in question. But it was retweeted over 150 times within half an hour by notable Twitter handles, including that of Mika Murata, a prominent day trader

岡三マン@okasanman
黒田が辞任に関し緊急会見
Twitter: 岡三マン on Twitter

Soon enough, @okasanman sought to clarify some bewildered followers with a tongue-in-cheek tweet of the baseball player in question. 

岡三マン@okasanman
辞任緊急会見でアベノミクスを総括する黒田氏 https://t.co/5eSJ8LRQIB
Twitter: 岡三マン on Twitter

While the difference between Kuroda, the 41-year old baseball player, and Kuroda, the 72-year old central banker — who is not retiring anytime soon — quickly became clear, the development underscores the waves of misinformation flowing on social media, and the challenge for day traders surfing Twitter for market guidance.

To contact the authors of this story: Lorcan Roche Kelly in Dublin at lrochekelly@bloomberg.net, Gearoid Reidy in Tokyo at greidy1@bloomberg.net, Sid Verma in London at sverma100@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Joe Weisenthal at jweisenthal@bloomberg.net, Dashiell Bennett