Trading halted on New York Stock Exchange due to technical issues

At this point, the Dow Jones industrial average is down 230 points to 17,546.

The New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday suspended trading at around 11:30 a.m. ET due to an “internal technical issue”, CNN reports.

It resumed just after 3 p.m. Eastern, with about an hour left in the trading day. And in August 2013, trading of all Nasdaq-listed stocks was frozen for three hours, leading USA Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Mary Jo White to call for a meeting of Wall Street executives to insure “continuous and orderly” functioning of the markets.

Thomas Farley, president of the NYSE Group, told CNBC the technical issue appeared to be a “configuration problem” but he said it was “premature” to discuss the specific cause.

Investors had been selling before the halt on worries over steep drops in China stocks and the possibility that Greece won’t be able to strike a deal with its creditors.

Stocks were lower all morning as investors were confronted with a major sell-off in Asian markets, uncertainty over the future of Greece and the eurozone and the upcoming release of minutes from the latest Federal Reserve meeting.

The White House said there was no indication of “malicious actions” in the shutdowns of the New York Stock Exchange and United Airlines.

United Airlines flights were temporarily grounded Wednesday.

“What this glitch really proves – and this is sad news for the exchange – is that we can live without the New York Stock Exchange“, said Mitchell O.

It’s a far cry from 2000, when NYSE dominated trading of the companies brings to the public market, such as e-commerce giant Alibaba and General Electric.

NYSE-listed stocks are still trading on other exchanges.

A technical issue had triggered a system-wide halt, officials said, and all open orders will be canceled.

Stock in the company that owns the New York Stock Exchange Is trading despite the halt on the floor, and it is falling. The suspension of trading was longest at the exchange in recent memory. The USA Department of Justice said Sarao used an automated trading program to manipulate the market. Germany’s DAX gained 0.7 percent and France’s CAC 40 rose 0.8 percent.

ASIA’S DAY: Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 3 per cent, and South Korea’s Kospi lost 1.2 per cent. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 shed 2 per cent. The euro rose to $1.1049.