Trading in Nasdaq-listed stocks including Apple, Google and Microsoft ground to a halt just after midday in New York as the second-largest US stock exchange by volume suffered a technical breakdown, sparking chaos and confusion among traders and market participants.
Nasdaq stock trading had not resumed after more than two hours as US exchanges scrambled to try to identify the source of the problem that affected the distribution of prices in an exchange that is home to 2,700 companies worth about $6tn.
Investors said they could not recall a similar wholesale suspension of a US stock exchange and the halt had weighed heavily on trading activity on other US exchanges in the afternoon.