[ by Melanie Gretchen ]

NYSE Euronext activity fell victim to a technical problem with a server yesterday, when more than 200 stocks were suspended.  From 9:38 a.m., when the exchange first alerted traders it was having problems with one of its cash equity matching engines, to closing, the NYSE did not publish quotes on 216 stocks.  At the end of the day, the exchange provided a list of the official closing prices for the securities.

On other markets markets the stocks in question continued trading.  Once Nasdaq OMX Group Inc, BATS Global Markets, and Direct Edge exchanges became aware of the situation, they stopped sending orders to the NYSE, declaring "self help" against the exchange.

"Orders were coming in, but those who were issuing the orders were not getting their confirmations or their reports, so we felt it was best to zero it out, if you will, and then to suspend trading of those stocks on our market." -- Rich Adamonis, an NYSE spokesman.

Business as Usual. Going forward, the NYSE said any open orders should be considered canceled.  Nevertheless, the exchange said it "anticipates a normal trading day in all securities" on Tuesday.  Currently, the transatlantic exchange operator is in the process of moving all of its markets in the United States and Europe to a universal electronic trading platform, to be rolled out through the rest of the year.

To date, the New York-based company's European markets have been fully integrated with the new system.  Next will be the movement of some 3,800 U.S. cash equities issues to the new platform, Mr. Adamonis said, 800 of which has been completed.

For further details, go to [Reuters, 11/12/12].