A technical issue caused a temporary halt for some stocks listed on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday, with at least one stock experiencing a significant price fluctuation. Berkshire Hathaway, the company led by renowned investor Warren Buffett, saw its A-class shares plummet by 99.97% to $185.10 from the previous closing price of $627,400 before trading was halted. Following the resumption of trading, the shares quickly recovered all losses and surged towards $700,000.
During the halt, Berkshire Hathaway's B-class shares, which typically move in tandem with the A-class shares, appeared to trade more normally. The New York Stock Exchange released a trading update stating that trading had been halted in several stocks due to a technical issue related to the publication of pricing data. The issue was resolved, and impacted stocks were reopened or in the process of reopening by 11 a.m. Eastern time.
While a full list of affected stocks was not provided, trading of Berkshire Hathaway's A-class shares was halted at 9:50 a.m. Eastern time, just before the NYSE announced its investigation into the technical problem. This incident is the latest in a series of recent glitches on Wall Street, with S&P Dow Jones Indices experiencing an issue last week that delayed the real-time pricing publication of the S&P 500 index for over an hour during Thursday's late-morning trading.
The financial industry recently transitioned to a new system where stock trade settlements occur much faster than before. Trades now need to settle within one business day after the deal is made, compared to the previous requirement of two days. This change was recommended by the Securities and Exchange Commission following the market disruption caused by the 'meme-stock' frenzy in early 2021, which strained the market's infrastructure and led some brokerages to restrict buying of stocks like GameStop, sparking customer backlash.
