Business

New York Stock Exchange resumes trading after more than three-hour suspension

by David McCabe 07/08/15 12:02 PM ET

The New York Stock Exchange temporarily suspended trading on all securities for more than three and a half hours on Wednesday because of technical problems.

{mosads}Trading was suspended at about 11:32 a.m. on Wednesday, and the New York Stock Exchange didn’t reopen until 3:10 p.m. — 50 minutes before the close.

Stocks continued to be sold on other markets during the shutdown, and the New York Stock Exchange’s electronic exchange continued to operate.

The suspension triggered fears of a cyberattack, but officials with the exchange said it was due to technical problems.

“We’re experiencing a technical issue that we’re working to resolve as quickly as possible,” the NYSE said earlier Wednesday on Twitter. “We’re doing our utmost to produce a swift resolution & will be providing further updates as soon as we can.”

President Obama was briefed on the NYSE incident by chief of staff Denis McDonough and top counterterrorism adviser Lisa Monaco, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. Monaco told Obama, “at this point, there is no indication malicious actors are involved in these technological issues.”

Obama told his advisers he wanted to receive updates on the situation throughout the day, Earnest added.

He said “it’s too early to offer an assessment” on the economic impact of the NYSE shutting down.

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairwoman Mary Jo White offered few details on what was happening at the exchange but said the regulator was in communication with the NYSE.

“We are in contact with NSYE and closely monitoring the situation,” she said in a statement.

Earlier on Wednesday, United Airlines grounded flights temporarily because of a system failure.

The problems with United Airlines and the stock exchange appear to have been “not the result of a nefarious actor,” Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said in a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Obama was also briefed on the United incident, Earnest said.

— This story was updated at 3:11 p.m.

— Peter Schroeder, Jordan Fabian and Julian Hattem contributed.