Power Outage at NYSE Halts Trading for 2 Hours

A power outage forced the New York Stock Exchange to shut down for nearly two hours Friday just minutes after the opening bell rang.

The exchange, the nation’s largest, said it has launched an investigation into the cause of the power-related problem that knocked out a computer system.

“We need to identify what happened and how it happened,” said Richard Torrenzano, an NYSE spokesman.

“I don’t have a lot of answers right now--no one does,” he said. However, he said the NYSE’s technicians told him the problem was “not a systems issue, it’s a power issue.”

The exchange halted trading at 9:41 a.m. EST, 11 minutes after the opening bell, and trading did not resume until 11:15 a.m.

Traders said the problem affected the exchange’s “Dot” computer, which executes small orders.

Torrenzano said if possible, the NYSE would set up safeguards to prevent a recurrence of such a problem.

Because the problem involved power rather than systems at the NYSE, the spokesman said he did not know whether the exchange’s back-up systems should have or could have prevented the trading halt.

Consolidated Edison said it was not responsible for the NYSE power problems, but the utility said it dispatched a crew to the scene to investigate the situation as a precaution.