Hoax Halts IBM Trading: The New York...

Hoax Halts IBM Trading: The New York Stock Exchange halted trading in IBM, one of the most respected blue chip stocks, for 38 minutes after it received a hoax call that the computer giant was about to make an announcement. International Business Machines Corp. spokesman Peter Thonis said a person identifying himself as a senior IBM official called the NYSE and requested a trading halt in the stock pending the issue of a news release. Trading in a firm’s stock is often halted prior to the release of important information so that no one with advance knowledge of the information can trade the shares and benefit. In IBM’s case, trading was stopped before the caller’s identity was verified, a breach of NYSE procedures. Trading was later resumed with little impact on the price of IBM shares, which closed at $112.375, down just 62.5 cents. The stock had been trading at $112.25 before it was halted.