n. The concern that a future 5-digit — 10,000+ points — Dow Jones Industrial Average could create problems for financial software coded to accept only 4-digit numbers.
1998
Many information technology systems cannot take the Dow average beyond 9999, said Andy Kyte, Gartner Group analyst. The Dow 10,000 problem, dubbed the "D10K" problem by some, may tax many financial services organizations already dealing with another huge problem dealing with numbers: the Y2K or Year 2000 problem.
1998
Curious speculation swirls around the prospect of a 10,000-point Dow Jones industrial average. At least some are concerned that the milestone—the first time the market indicator would be expressed in five digits—might create a problem similar to the year 2000 debacle, that computers used to four-digit Dows aren't prepared to handle. It's already being dubbed the D10K problem.
1998 (earliest)
Experts predict financial software may go haywire if the Dow Jones Industrial Average tops 10,000. Many software programs are designed to handle only four-digit Dows, says one software designer, who says that concern over the D10K problem soon "will spawn the usual parade of opportunists" to fix the bug.