Financial Times publishes stunning, incorrect report on major monetary policy decision 7 minutes early

At around 7:38 a.m. ET, everyone following financial markets had a heart attack.

It began when the Financial Times tweeted: "ECB leaves rates unchanged in shock decision http://on.ft.com/1Nrekqz"

This announcement was particularly jarring because 1) the market broadly expected the European Central Bank to cut rates and 2) the actual announcement wasn't due until 7:45 a.m.

And most stunningly 3) they got it wrong. The ECB actually did cut.

@FinancialTimes

It wasn't just an erroneous tweet that went out early. The FT published a story 9 minutes before the release reporting, "The European Central Bank has left interest rates unchanged, dashing expectations of a cut to its deposit rate."

The FT later tweeted a correction: "Correction: please ignore earlier tweet headlined "ECB leaves rates unchanged in shock decision". This was published in error."

At 7:45 a.m. ET, the ECB actually announced that it cut its deposit facility rate to -0.300% from -0.200%. Read Business Insider's full coverage of it here.

Financial Times