New York Stock Exchange chaos as Berkshire Hathaway and other stocks worth over $100B plummet by 99% due to ‘technical issue’
The New York Stock Exchange is urgently investigating a “technical problem” that has led to dozens of billion-dollar shares going public with price losses of up to 99 percent.
Stocks listed on the NYSE, such as Berkshire Hathaway, GameStop, Chipotle Mexican Grill and Barrick Gold, were halted Monday morning due to volatility.
Berkshire shares fell 99.97%, with their Class A shares trading at just $185.10.
There were fewer than 4,000 recorded trades in Berkshire’s A-class shares before trading was halted.
Similarly, Barrick Gold was listed at just 25 cents, down 98.5 percent on the day.
And NuScale Power was down 13 cents, down 98.5 percent on the day.
About 50 stocks were affected, with some reporting only minor price changes, according to the NYSE website.
NYSE Equities said Monday it is currently investigating a reported technical issue involving the Limit Up-Limit Down bands, which sent dozens of listed stocks into volatility pauses.
The LULD mechanism is intended to prevent trading in securities outside price ranges.
The ranges are set at a percentage above and below the average reference price of the security over the immediately preceding five-minute period.
Joe Saluzzi, co-founder of Themis Trading, told CNN: ‘Berkshire, Chipotle and a few others were shut down for no apparent reason. Something strange is going on.’
He added: “They are incorrect trading reports and will be withdrawn from the tape.
“It’s someone who has a glitch, whether it’s the stock market or a market maker.”
