N.Y.S.E. Glitch Leads to Wild Swings in Share Prices

Prices eventually returned to normal levels, but the turmoil left some traders uncertain of whether their orders were placed.

The New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday had a glitch that led to wild price swings in over 80 stocks, including shares of large companies like Wells Fargo, Verizon and Nike.

Shares of Nike fell more than 12 percent immediately after trading began at 9:30 a.m. in New York. In less than a second, Verizon swung between a loss of over 17 percent and a gain of nearly 13 percent, while Wells Fargo plummeted more than 15 percent.

The moves, which added or wiped out billions of dollars of market value, led the exchange to halt trading in the shares. Stock exchanges have built-in circuit breakers that automatically pause trading if a stock price suddenly swings by a large amount.

Once trading resumed, the companies share prices moved more or less in line with a typical trading day. Shares of Nike, Verizon and Wells Fargo, for example, had gained or lost less than 2 percent by the end of trading on Tuesday.