The exact cause of the Flash Crash of May 6, 2010 will most likely never be known, but most believe the use of high frequency trading as being a central culprit (no matter what the SEC might say).
On the inflation front, the latest Central Bank survey of economists has January inflation coming in at an expected 0.75 percent, some high-frequency price samples are already breaching 1 percent, being pressured by higher food and service prices.