Power Glitch Halts Trading on NYSE

The New York Stock Exchange halted trading for more than 90 minutes this morning because of a power disruption that knocked out the computer system at the nation’s largest stock market.

The disruption shut down the exchange at 9:41 a.m., 11 minutes into the start of its session. NYSE spokesman Richard Torrenzano said the problem was identified and corrected before 10:30 a.m., but trading didn’t resume until 11:15 a.m.

“As a rule I don’t see any real damage (to the market),” said Richard Meyer, managing director of institutional trading at Ladenburg Thalmann. “It was not that big of a deal. It was a quiet day and this just made it a forced quietness.”

Traders said the problem was with the exchange’s “Dot” computer, which executes small orders. “They have a backup system that evidently is not working,” one trader said.