Describing it in absolute terms doesn't mean that much - 800 points is only a 1.66% drop, not much of a tumble. Back in 2009 it would've been 12%+ which would've been a lot scarier.

I am not suggesting this is occurring but do world leaders ever intentionally spook the stock market, get their buddies to buy up stocks then revert their changes, wait for the market to climb and then sell?

This is assumed behaviour, particularly in some governments. They control the information, the timing, and law enforcement.

> Citrini Research on Sunday published a report on Substack laying out hypothetical scenarios for how developments in AI could disrupt certain parts of the economy. Stocks that were mentioned in the report tumbled on Monday.

That report is here https://www.citriniresearch.com/p/2028gic