The path of a rumor is often as interesting -- and tortuous -- as the rumor itself. Just look at Wednesday's rumor that Occidental Petroleum (OXY) had plans to acquire exploration and production company Apache (APA).

Here's how it all unfolded: Shares of Apache spiked 11% Wednesday morning following a report published on Oil and Gas People, an industry jobs and news website, claiming Occidental planned to acquire Apache in a deal worth $25 billion. This would have put a roughly 19% premium on Apache's market cap.

http://realmoney.thestreet.com/articles/05/19/2016/anatomy-rumor-apache-occidental-illustrates-hazards-herd

so what was the path? an article on 'oil and gas people' ,based upon something someone claims to have read -or not, was the origin... and than? a pretty short walk.

seems more like someone took a lot of people for a ride to skim off big time.

Like the boss of Shell making the 'oil prices are rallying' statement a few months back whereupon they tanked even more within 24 hours?

Rosneft's chief making the claim a few days back that 'OPEC is dead'?

There was another wind-up on Yahoo finance a few weeks back that Murphy Oil were going to surprise the market when their Q1 figures were released. They released the figures and the market yawned. Thus the wheels came off someone's attempt to line their pockets real fast.

In other news, someone jumped from a (London) city roof-top hotel bar that's favored by the local investment banker crowd.

The biggest problem is that $$$ millions (sometimes $$$ billions) are made and lost on those rumors, making it real tempting to go short or long just before posting one up.