Pesky Squirrel Again Drives Nasdaq Nuts
From Associated Press
NEW YORK —
For the second time in seven years, a squirrel led to a brief closure of the nation’s second-largest stock market Monday.
The squirrel is suspected of chewing into power lines near the Nasdaq stock market’s computer center in Trumbull, Conn., and causing a brief dip in power to the computer center, a utility spokeswoman said.
Although Nasdaq never lost power completely, automatic systems tried unsuccessfully to switch to a standby generator.
Technicians then started turning over computing chores to a backup in Rockville, Md.
The Nasdaq stock market closed at 1:17 p.m. EDT and reopened 34 minutes later after switching to the backup computer system. In 1987, a squirrel carrying a piece of aluminum foil shorted out service to Nasdaq.
