Mathieu Belanger/ReutersSquirrels have been Nasdaq’s nemesis. Now, it appears to be computer bugs.It was yet another technical difficulty for Nasdaq.
On Thursday, when a problem at the Nasdaq stock market halted trading in all Nasdaq-listed stocks, it brought back memories of past problems at the exchange, which trades shares of some of the world’s most prominent technology companies.
Squirrels have caused power failures, and computer glitches have led to market interruptions. Last year, the initial public offering of Facebook was plagued by errors at the exchange.
On the occasion of each embarrassment, observers have often been left wondering: Shouldn’t a stock exchange focused on technology be able to prevent technological problems?
Below is a look back at some of the more memorable mishaps at Nasdaq.
1987: A troublesome squirrel | Just two months after a historic stock market crash, a stray squirrel touched off a power failure in Trumbull, Conn., that shut down the Nasdaq for 82 minutes, preventing an estimated 20 million shares from being traded. The squirrel lost its life.
1994: Another squirrel, and computer bugs | After running for years without interruption, Nasdaq suffered a series of technical breakdowns that summer. To cap it off, a squirrel chewed through an electric company’s power line, leading to a 34-minute interruption when the exchange’s own backup power system in Trumbull failed to kick in. “No one is yet ready to describe the recent problems as anything more than a run of bad luck,” The New York Times wrote at the time.
2000: Delays and failures | Nasdaq was doing a fine job promoting itself as a home for technology companies, but its own technology was exposing the exchange to criticism. Arthur Levitt, then the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, said that Nasdaq’s SelectNet system, which matched orders electronically, “continues to be plagued with shortcomings, delays during heavy trading volume and even outages.”
2011: Computer breach | Hackers breached a Nasdaq system, causing concern among companies doing business with the exchange. But there was no sign that the trading platform had been affected. The breach was confined to a Web-based application on which corporations stored and shared information, the company said.
2012: Facebook I.P.O. | The chief executive of Nasdaq, Robert Greifeld, acknowledged that technical errors had marred Facebook’s debut but said that the problems had not affected the stock price. The following year, though, the company’s board cut Mr. Greifeld’s bonus by 62 percent as a result of the botched I.P.O. The company was also fined $10 million by the S.E.C. for “poor systems and decision making” before and after the public offering.