Too Good To Be True: NYSE Cancels Trades On Berkshire Hathaway Stock Purchased During 99% Discount Glitch
What Happened: A technical issue at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) caused the stock price of companies like Berkshire Hathaway Inc (NYSE:BRK) (NYSE:BRK) and Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG) to decline more than 99% shortly after the open. The stocks were halted due to volatility while the exchange worked to investigate and resolve the issues.
Some traders were lucky enough to purchase shares of Berkshire Hathaway for less than $200 – the stock normally trades at more than $600,000 a share. The NYSE posted an update Monday night around 9pm ET, informing customers that the exchange would ‘bust', or void, all the trades made on Berkshire during the glitch.
Read Also: Berkshire Hathaway, Chipotle, More NYSE Stocks Hit With Trading Halts Triggered By Technical Issues
What Caused The Issue? Preliminary reports indicate that a new software release from the Consolidated Tape Association (CTA) caused an issue in the quotes of the impacted stocks. The CTA has since moved back to the previous version of the software, according to Fortune.
Only Berkshire Hathaway's Class A shares, which traded at more than $613,000 Tuesday, were impacted by the NYSE / CTA issue. The Warren Buffett-backed conglomerate's Class B shares, which are much more affordable for retail investors, did not crash alongside the Class A shares.
Berkshire Hathaway's stock did decline on Tuesday, this time for real, but only by around 3% compared to the 99% drop the day prior. Tuesday's drop in price comes amid weakness in the energy and financial sectors, two industries that Buffett and Berkshire are heavily invested in.
The Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLE) and the Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLF) each traded down on Tuesday by around 2% and 1% respectively.
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