Technical glitch brings Nasdaq trading to a halt
New York, August 23, 2013
Trading in shares of more than 3,000 US companies listed by Nasdaq, including Google, Apple and Microsoft, was abruptly halted shortly after midday on Thursday because of a technical problem, the latest black eye for the US securities trading business.
All traffic through Nasdaq stopped at 12:14 pm (1614 GMT), the exchange said on its website, citing a problem distributing stock price quotes. A source familiar with the matter described the problem as a "data feed issue."
Rival exchanges halted trading of Nasdaq-listed shares shortly afterward at the request of Nasdaq, the second-biggest US stock exchange operator.
Options trading was also halted, the exchange added.
"I can't remember this happening in recent memory," said Christopher Nagy, president of consultancy firm KOR Trading and a former head of trading at TD Ameritrade.
"As we continue to eliminate human beings from the execution of security trading, this is the problem you run into," said Stephen Massocca, managing director of Wedbush Equity Management LLC in San Francisco. "These events are going to take place, given the level of automation."
Trading of shares not listed on Nasdaq continued, but transactions could not be executed on the Nasdaq platform.
Major market gauges such as the Nasdaq Composite Index and Nasdaq 100 were also affected. The composite had been up 0.87 percent when the disruptions struck and the 100 index was up 0.75 percent.
The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index, which includes around 100 stocks listed on Nasdaq and as a result were not trading, was up about 0.75 percent on the session. - Reuters
