The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) halted trading for several US-listed companies, including Berkshire Hathaway, following a technical glitch that caused unusual price drops. Class A shares in Berkshire Hathaway appeared to plunge 99% before the trading pause. By midday, the stock had resumed trading, recovering 0.9%. The NYSE attributed the issue to a technical problem with industry-wide price bands published by the Consolidated Tape Association Security Information Processor (CTA SIP).
Normal trading resumed late Monday morning after the New York Stock Exchange announced that a technical issue had caused significant price fluctuations for certain stocks, including Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway.
Technical glitch leads to trading halts
The NYSE reported investigating the technical malfunction, which led to multiple trading halts. A data error recorded trades of Berkshire Hathaway Class A shares at $185.10, a significant drop from the previous $621,484. The exchange paused trading, which restricts activity outside specified price bands, before resuming with a slight gain.
The NYSE rules allow traders to seek compensation for “clearly erroneous” trades. Similar past incidents, like last year’s manual error that affected hundreds of stocks, resulted in the annulment of trades. By 11 am, the NYSE announced that the technical issue was resolved, and affected stocks were reopening.
Industry-wide impact
The glitch impacted other stocks, including Chipotle and Barrick Gold. Bloomberg data recorded multiple trades in Barrick Gold at 25 cents per share, down from $17 per share. Most securities resumed trading within an hour, though Berkshire’s recovery took longer.
No cyber attack
An NYSE spokesperson confirmed that the glitch was not due to a cyber attack. The problem followed a planned update to the SIP over the weekend. The incident occurred days after a separate issue with data feeds from S&P Global, affecting live index figures.
Market reaction
The recent technical issues coincide with a significant industry move to shorten the trade finalization window, known as T+1. However, sources indicated that Monday’s outage was unrelated to this update. Shares in Intercontinental Exchange, NYSE’s parent company, dipped 0.4% on Monday.
