Paper short abstract:

This communication focus on how traders follow the moods of the market according both to technical data and narrative plots stemming from rumours and news. Emotions of traders will also be considered, especially when it comes to the management of uncertainty and despair at a time of general market turbulence.

Paper long abstract:

Recent ethnographic accounts of market floors and trading rooms confront us a world enveloped by complex technological devices and, at the same time, traversed by strong emotions like anxiety, fear and panic or expectation, self-fulfilment and euphoria. This applies both to the market as a larger entity and to traders, brokers, investors and other professionals of the financial sector working on particular worksites. The aim of this communication is to describe how the moods of the market are publicized, acknowledged, interpreted and dealt with by traders, paying attention to the use of technical data presented on screen (like indexes and graphs) as well as of narrative plots stemming from rumours and news. The emotions of traders engaged with investment activities will also be considered, especially when it comes to the management of uncertainty and despair at a time of general market turbulence. The findings are based on fieldwork conducted on a Portuguese market room during the summer of 2008, encompassing the critical moment of Lehman Brothers' collapse.