An apparent glitch at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) triggered trading halts for about a dozen companies shortly after the market opened, including notable names like Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. and Abbott Laboratories.
The NYSE reported issues related to the limit up-limit-down trading bands, which are typically responsible for pausing stocks in cases of volatility. This incident occurred just days after a glitch last week left the S&P 500 Index without live pricing for an hour, amidst the market’s adjustment to quicker settlement times for US stock trades.
“NYSE Equities is currently investigating a reported technical issue,” stated an online status page, promising further information as soon as possible. A representative for NYSE declined to comment beyond the exchange’s official market status update.
In addition to the trading halts, there were instances of trades executed at seemingly erroneous prices. Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s Class A shares, for example, exchanged hands at $185.10, representing a significant discount of 99.97% to Friday’s closing price. NuScale Power Corp. experienced a similar glitch, with trades executed approximately 99% below the prior price.
Chipotle was halted when it was down 1.2% at 9:44 a.m. New York time, while Abbott Laboratories saw gains of up to 1.9% on Monday. Halts are typically triggered by rapid and substantial changes in price and volume.
Chipotle resumed trading around 10:21 a.m. in New York, showing a decline of about 1.3%.
Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers LLC, described the NYSE issue as “a little weird but almost undoubtedly coincidental” following last week’s S&P 500 Index glitch. He noted that while such glitches are notable, the interconnectedness of the system raises the potential for fragility.
These glitches occurred just a week after US stock exchanges transitioned to one-day settlement, adding to the recent confusion caused by the S&P 500’s temporary halt in updates. While Thursday’s glitch only affected the index and resulted in minor disruptions, the current situation has left market participants puzzled for the second time in three sessions.
The recent disruptions bring to mind a confusing episode in January 2023 when a staffer at the NYSE’s backup data center in Chicago inadvertently left a backup system running, resulting in wild price swings for hundreds of stocks at the market open.
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