Did you hear the one about Google buying Apple? Well it’s not true – believe us, it didn’t happen.

But try telling news service Dow Jones that. For a brief moment at least that’s what it was running on its news wires. The fake news claimed that Google was acquiring Apple for US$9 billion – actually a tiny fraction of its real worth. (Apple’s current market capitalisation is more than $805 billion)

Silly though it was, the report briefly sent Apple’s stock up about $2 to $158 a share, until calm and commonsense prevailed. The shares eventually closed at $155.90.

A red-faced Dow Jones asserted the calamity was due to a “technical error”. That’s what happens when you let algorithms, rather than human experts write the news.