The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) announced on Monday that it has resolved a technical issue that temporarily halted trading for several major stocks, leading to an erroneous indication that Berkshire Hathaway shares had fallen by 99.97%.
In an official statement, the NYSE reported that affected stocks have resumed trading and that all systems are currently functioning correctly. A senior executive at a major bank, in contact with Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of NYSE, told CNN that there was no evidence suggesting the glitch was due to a cyberattack.
An NYSE spokesperson clarified that the issue was caused by a “technical problem” with industry-wide price bands, which led to trading halts on up to 40 symbols listed on NYSE Group exchanges. These price bands are published by the Consolidated Tape Association’s (CTA) Security Information Processor (SIP), which is responsible for real-time trade and quote data.
The CTA noted that the problem might have been related to a recent software update. To resolve the issue, they reverted to a secondary data center operating on an older version of the software. The glitch resulted in trading pauses for numerous stocks, suggesting they traded outside the so-called limit up-limit down bands, according to NYSE’s website. Notable affected companies included Chipotle and Berkshire Hathaway, the latter managed by famed investor Warren Buffett.
For nearly two hours, Berkshire Hathaway’s Class A shares were incorrectly shown trading at $185.10, down from a previous close of $627,400, representing a 99.97% drop. NYSE decided to “bust,” or cancel, all erroneous trades of Berkshire between 9:50 am ET and 9:51 am ET at or below $603,718.30. This ruling is final and cannot be appealed, with further trade cancellations possible.
A spokesperson for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) confirmed that the agency is monitoring the situation and engaging with market participants. Joe Saluzzi, co-founder of Themis Trading, expressed skepticism about NYSE’s explanation, noting that it did not align with the observed trading anomalies.
Data from Refinitiv showed Berkshire Hathaway trading at $620,700 at 9:44:32 am on Monday, before an unexplained plunge to $185.10. “It makes no sense,” Saluzzi said.
The broader stock market appeared largely unaffected by the technical issues and moved mostly lower due to economic growth concerns. Aside from Berkshire, most affected stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) were only slightly higher or lower. Barrick Gold (GOLD), a Canadian gold and copper producer, was briefly listed at 25 cents, a 98.5% drop, but corrected to $17.28 by midday, up 1.1%. NuScale Power (SMR), a modular nuclear reactor technology developer, was listed at 13 cents, down 98.5%, but later traded at $8.29, down 5%.
