The Marvel film - released in the UK as Avengers Assemble - also beat Django Unchained, Skyfall, Ted and The Dark Knight Rises to win the best fight accolade.
If "Zero Dark Thirty" does win Best Picture, it will be one of only five times in the past 25 years when the director of the best film didn't also get an Oscar.
The high-speed traders whom the exchanges desperately want to retain or win back from the dark pools are part of the reason the stock market looks so scary to individuals these days.