New York Stock Exchange resumes trading following nearly 4-hour halt

The New York Stock Exchange suspended all trading for nearly four hours Wednesday because of “a reported technical issue,” the exchange said in a statement on its website.

Trading was halted at 11:32 a.m. EDT. Orders began being accepted for trades on the NYSE at 3:10 p.m. EDT and on NYSE MKT (the former American Stock Exchange) at 3:05 p.m. EDT, NYSE said on its market status website.

Sara Rich, a spokeswoman at the NYSE, confirmed tweets posted by the NYSE that the outage was internal in nature and was not the result of a cyberattack.

NYSE Arca and NYSE Amex/Arca Options were unaffected, the NYSE said. Trading continued on other venues such as the Nasdaq Stock Market and BATS Global Markets.

Ryan D. Larson, head of equity trading, U.S., at RBC Global Asset Management (U.S.), said early Wednesday afternoon that the NYSE outage is “not impacting us at all; business as usual. There are 10 other exchanges in the U.S. and trading in NYSE-listed names continues in orderly fashion.” He said the outage could become a bigger issue if it continues as the 4 p.m. EDT close approaches.

At T. Rowe Price Associates, Andrew M. Brooks, vice president and head of U.S. equity trading, also said trading at the money manager wasn't affected. “There are a total of 11 exchanges out there,” Mr. Brooks said. “Also, volume is highest after the market opens and before the close. Volume is relatively light during the time NYSE was down.”

The S&P 500 closed down 34.47, or 1.66%, at 2,046.87; the Dow Jones industrial average was down 249.07, or 1.4%, at 17,527.84; and the Nasdaq composite index was down 87.70, or 1.12%, at 4,909.76.