The New York Stock Exchange is Down

All trading is suspended due to what's being called a "major technical issue."

The New York Stock Exchange is down. All open orders have reportedly been cancelled, and all trading has been suspended.

Officially, there's no word yet on why the exchange is down, but CNBC says an NYSE official has indicated that the exchange is suffering from "a major technical issue."

According to a tweet from Jennifer Bendery of The Huffington Post, the Department of Homeland Security has said that, so far as they know, there is "no indication" of any sort of cyberattack. 

The halt came after what The Wall Street Journal describes as a "broad selloff in shares that was spurred by a deepening decline in China's stock market." (Read more about China's financial system troubles here.) It's not clear when the exchange might reopen. 

Update: In a Tweet, the NYSE confirms that they are "experiencing a technical issue" and are working to resolve it. 

Update 2: Looks like trading will resume at 3:10 p.m. this afternoon. 

Comments

[SIV]

Chi-com cyber attack!

We must suspend the Constitution to protect the 401ks of America;'s working families.

[Kristen?s Vermeer]

We must suspend the Constitution to protect confiscate the 401ks of America;'s working families.

[Idle Hands]

If the chicoms really our responsible for this what sort of responses should we anticipate? Wars have been fought over less.

[Idle Hands]

Of course as it would reflect poorly on the current leadership we may just cover it up as a bad router or something.

[Hamster of Doom]

Someone fat-fingered something.

[Mr Lizard]

You know who else had a fat finger?...

[The Tone Police]

Rosie O'Donnell's girlfriend?

[Kristen?s Vermeer]

Chris Christie?

[Dr. Fronkensteen]

I never knew Hitler had a fat finger.

[Charles Easterly]

Yesterday I was informed that he only had one testicle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dM7pJGusyJg

[ant1sthenes]

Responsible for cyber shenanigans, or responsible for financial shenanigans that prompt panic? And why would we treat one more harshly than the other if they lead to the same outcome?

[LynchPin1477]

I think I'll wait to find out what actually is happening before beating the war drum.

It strikes me as odd that China, which benefits significantly from a healthy U.S. economy, would sanction an economic attack on one of the most visible and important parts of the U.S. economy.

[ace_m82]

Yeah, that's one of the benefits of a world economy, wars between big players would be rare, because they cost so much.

Any institution seeks to protect/grow its own power. Any war that would sink your economy would be off the table.

[croaker]

This isn't a Tom Clancy novel.

[MoriahJovan]

My bet: High frequency trading crashed the servers.

[Idle Hands]

lol. Actually that will probably be blamed.

[Episiarch]

Doubtful. Also remember that after 9-11 many firms built complete backup replicas of their server centers in places like Jersey so that just in case something bad happened, they could flip over to the backup (I knew a guy who got hired as a system admin for the one for JP Morgan; he was so bored after a while because it was just maintaining the secondary system and nothing else). I don't know if NYSE has such a backup, but I'd be surprised if they didn't.

Regardless, it's impossible to know. Every once and a while, something actually does break and there will be downtime, even though they go through shitloads of effort to try and make sure that never happens.

[Spencer]

I bet it was a fireworks accident.

[MoriahJovan]

HFT acts on coded algorithms, so the Chinese stock market crash could have triggered an overnight that hit the futures before the bell rang this morning and kept going.

[MoriahJovan]

That said, no, we will never know, and yes, they'll blame something innocuous. HFT's been a thorn in everyone's paw for the two, three years (gaming the code), so it wouldn't be *generally* undeserved blame. ("Yes, but how many times have you NOT been caught for speeding, ma'am?")

[R C Dean]

HFT is a per se violation of the securities laws and actual fraud, at least as most of them do it.

HFT requires that the trader put up thousands or even millions of offers, and take most of them down before they can even be accepted. This violates the securities law requirement that every offer be bona fide, one that the offeror makes with the intention that it be accepted. It is impossible, both in the real world and given the timing on HFT, for their offers to be accepted.

And making an offer that you have no intention of honoring is black letter fraud.

Even if they don't get blamed for this, HFT is a criminal enterprise that should be shut down.

[MoriahJovan]

Even if they don't get blamed for this, HFT is a criminal enterprise that should be shut down.

I totally agree. I started getting pissy back in the good ol' days of daytrading, but ZeroHedge has been screaming about the algorithms trading outside hours (I *think* that was one of the problems) for the last couple of years. But I haven't been paying attention because the field for people like me is nonexistent now. The indices mean nothing and I roll my eyes every time I hear "Economy's up and you can tell because DOW."

[perlchpr]

Man, I hate the idea of following the Italians on anything economic, but this seems like a not terrible plan: "Italy became the world's first country to introduce a tax specifically targeted at HFT, charging a levy of 0.02% on equity transactions lasting less than 0.5 seconds."

Coming at this from a libertarian perspective... what would be a NAP method of dealing with this?

[Lee G]

Put a minimum time that the offers have to remain on the board.

[MoriahJovan]

For your viewing pleasure, a bunch of graphs to make your head go boom.

I couldn't find the graph I was looking for, which was a similar "caught on tape" thing where trading started at something like 10 seconds before market open, on several consecutive days, then TPTB at whichever bank said, "Oh, glitch, my bad!"

[Overt]

Some HFTs engage in the behavior described. Others just very quickly make trades.

In libertopia, I'm not sure what really could be done even about the "nefarious" HFTs. The ones I have seen most condemned attempt to ferret out your limit price for, say, buying a stock. So let's say you are willing to buy 1000 shares at $10per. If they offered stock up at $9 you'd buy, but they'd be missing $1 on those trades. So instead they offer a couple shares at different prices, and find your upper limit and then execute the bulk of their trade at that limit. The nefariousness comes in the fact that they are supposed to be prohibited from seeing your limits.

In essence, a buy or sell listing is just an advertisement for trade. If you put a boat wanted or boat for sale ad in the paper and it goes to thousands of people, it isn't fraud if you intend to sell that boat- even if you only have one to sell. Likewise, if on a couple different sites you put that boat listing at different advertised prices, it isn't fraud either.

[Overt]

And by the way, I see this as a Regulation problem rather than a HFT problem. The SEC regulates the shit out of securities such that it is extremely difficult for new, disruptive exchanges to get into the market. That means we have very few choices for exchange mechanisms. And so, the government tries to fix this by making mandates.

Contrast that to the advertising exchange market. Every time you load a web page at reason (assuming you aren't adblocking) a long chain of advertising trades takes place. The ad exchanges are not dissimilar from securities exchanges. A website advertises its inventory and advertisers bid for placement. This happens EVERY page load using automated systems. Many of the advertising agencies operate just like HFTs using algorithms and massive databases to try and get the best value of a trade.

If an advertiser or publisher starts gaming an exchange, the exchange must quickly adapt to remove that practice, or it faces its participants going to one of dozens of other ad exchanges in the industry. This is all possible because, by and large, there aren't a bunch of federal regulations trying to enforce fairness on this stuff.

[R C Dean]

In essence, a buy or sell listing is just an advertisement for trade.

No, its not. Its supposed to be more than that. Its supposed to be an offer which, if accepted, is an enforceable contract.

[Paul.]

funny, it's kind of been the opposite: the economy's doing great, just look at the DOW!

[Rhywun]

There's no data in Manhattan anymore, much like there are no IT workers - that's all in data centers across the country.

[Kristen?s Vermeer]

So Chris Christie had his cronies close a coupla lanes on the series of tubes?

[MoriahJovan]

Possibly, but would anybody believe it?!

[Pulseguy]

Most reasonable suggestion so far.

[Napoleon Bonoparte]

So - are we experiencing an economic shit-hitting-the-fan moment, or is this just some hapless sysadmin recycling a some routers at an inopportune moment?

Suspense!

[Paul.]

Yes.

[Dark Lord of the wood chipper]

"The halt came after what The Wall Street Journal describes as a "broad selloff in shares that was spurred by..."

*puts several new layers of tin foil on hat*

What if this was done by the US government to prevent a possible crash? Something something NSA backdoor.

[tarran]

What NSA backdoor?!?

All the treasury secretary picks up the phone and calls the NYSE chairman. No post 1925 tech required!

[Paul.]

I believe this conspiracy theory more than a Chinese attack. The Chinese own the US, so they're very interested in us having a strong economy.

however, given what we've seen in China over the week, I wouldn't be completely shocked if the US gov't shut it down to dampen a possible crash in response to the crisis in China.

[Je suis Woodchipper]

Now would be a good time to lowball all offers on domestic assets under Chinese ownership.

[Spencer]

yes. let's buy our shit back, but I don't think it's hit bottom yet. more savings to be had and money to be made from smart, brave souls.

[Paul.]

Do we wait until we're Greece?

[Pulseguy]

The opposite. If China crashes that doesn't mean rich Chinese, the asset owners, crash. But, it might mean they pick up the marbles they can from China and invest heavily elsewhere.

[Idle Hands]

Isis?

[Princess Trigger]

Professor, without knowing precisely what the danger is, would you say it's time for our viewers to crack each other's heads open and feast on the goo inside?

[MJGreen - Docile Citizen]

Yes I would, Kent.

[Ken Shultz]

It's weird that it happened on the same day United had to ground 3500 flights.

[space junk]

I am wondering if it is a DNS issue.

[derpules]

The Wall Street Journal's website also went down at around the same time that NYSE suspended its trading, as did Zero Hedge and multiple Dow Jones websites.

[Paul.]

Putting conspiracy theories aside, it could have been a regional carrier issue that all these entities had in common.

That carrier being the NSA.

Boom.

[Rebel Scum]

The end is near.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Sure, everyone's always in favor of saving Mao's brain, but upload it onto the internet and, oh, suddenly you've gone too far.

[Wizard with a Woodchipper]

"The Department of Homeland Security has said that, so far as they know, there is "no indication" of any sort of cyberattack."

Yes, but DHS really wouldn't know whether or not it was a cyberattack.

[Paul.]

The fact that they call it a "cyber attack"suggests they in fact know very little.

[croaker]

DHS couldn't recognize a cyberattack if one came up and pissed on it's leg.

[OldMexican]

Update: In a Tweet, the NYSE confirms that they are "experiencing a technical issue" and are working to resolve it.

And so it begins....

[LynchPin1477]

I'm guessing climate change.

[Knarf Yenrab!]

Get your talking points right. It's climate change AND austerity.

[perlchpr]

But... I thought the point of the enviroweenies was that we need to undergo climate austerity!

[Ron]

remember its all Boosh's fault including climate change

[jjoyce157]

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[Pompey]

HOW CAN I TO BE MAKINGS THE CASH WITH THE STOCK MARKET CLOSING!!

[Rasilio]

One of the better theories I've seen is a default DOS attack on the NYSE as million of Chinese stockholders who couldn't access their assets on the chinese markets flooded the US market in an attempt to acquire some sort of liquid assets for their impending leverage calls

[Chippus Maximus]

That would imply that the NYSE systems are not very scalable.

[Sevo]

Gee, guys, wanna update this? Or are we waiting for the August issue?
WSJ is saying trading has resumed.

[Sevo]

Oops.
Looks like the Wally blew it. Every other source is saying 'still down'.
Shame on me.

[toolkien]

Yes, this is the beginning of the end. See what happens when fiscal conservatives get their way and we don't tax and regulate enough? Maybe finally we'll have the necessary 100% taxation and absolute regulatory forbiddance/compulsion so things like this won't happen anymore. I'm voting Sanders all the way. Colonel Sanders that is, a bucket of chicken in every pot...

[Chippus Maximus]

Warning: Tin foil hat time

The Dow is down 200+ points right now.
The asian markets just got their asses kicked to the tune of almost 6% last night. This is roughly the equivalent of some of those 500 to 600 point loss days that we had going on during the '08 meltdown.

I would like to know what large firms have been able to move their positions today behind the scenes while the rest of us are locked up on some stocks.

This 'technical issue' could be nothing more than an attempt to stem huge sell offs in the American markets. They aren't stopping all trading across all venues, but if you can stem a large out-flowing of capital, you might be able to avoid complete market chaos.

Either way, it looks like fucking amateur night at the NYSE. Limited info coming from them is not helping the situation.

[BigT]

Wanna watch the cyber attacks in real time?

Here.

[Knarf Yenrab!]

"The White House and the U.S. Treasury Department are monitoring the "ongoing issue" at the New York Stock Exchange and President Barack Obama has been briefed on the matter, a White House official said on Wednesday. Presidential handlers scrambled to hide all White House copies of My Pet Goat."

See, we're in good hands. Everything is fine.

[BigT]

Yesterday a Chinese elderly women was lined up in my bank and complaining again loudly. She was changing her Yen into Dollars and kept saying how come it`s always different! How come last week I get more dollars than this week for the same amount of Yen! How come it always changes and is always different.

The pimply teller with glasses politely said "fluctuations'.

The Chinese money lady immediately said "Fluc you whites too".

Happened yesterday swear to God.

[egould310 reppin' LBC]

Funny. Thanx

[Pulseguy]

that's funny. But, it is hilarious if it's true.

[Ron]

i recently did not get a job because the potential client told me the market was going to crash in 3 weeks and this was 3 weeks ago. i wonder what he knows?

[Paul.]

That the market was going to crash.

[bagotamy271]

Google pay 97$ per hour my last pay check was $8500 working 1o hours a week online. My younger brother friend has been averaging 12k for months now and he works about 22 hours a week. I cant believe how easy it was once I tried it out.
This is wha- I do...... ?????? http://www.Wage-Report.com

[bsm32381]

Google pay 97$ per hour my last pay check was $8500 working 1o hours a week online. My younger brother friend has been averaging 12k for months now and he works about 22 hours a week. I cant believe how easy it was once I tried it out.
This is wha- I do...... ?????? http://www.online-jobs9.com

[Hank Phillips]

Damndest coincidence... gubmint looters with guns just seized money from bank accounts in the Democratic People's State of California, and alluva sudden money flees the market like it heard the leper's bell of the approaching looter...
http://www.news10.net/story/ne.....2/4761575/

Something of the sort happened on May 6, 2010 when the FATF bragged about gubmint grabbing of Columbian money to protect us from the evils of terrism. Media mobsters dubbed it a "flash crash." It happened again this year when the new gubmint "laundering" rules "The International Narcotics Control Strategy Report" were issued by the better folks who know what's good for the riffraff. I'm sure all of this must be pure coincidence, but still...
All I know is what I read in the papers.