Flash freeze: Nasdaq trading resumes after tech glitch
The stock exchange went down around noon Eastern, but trading has finally resumed. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 continues to hold onto its gains.
Update, 12:27 p.m. PT: Trading on the Nasdaq exchange has now resumed.
All trading has halted on the Nasdaq stock exchange for the moment.
Going down shortly after noon ET on Thursday, it appears that the downtime is due to a technical glitch. But beyond that, there are no specific details available.
According to Briefing.com, the problem "appears to be related to a quote dissemination issue and it is not known when normal trading on the Nasdaq will resume."
Meanwhile, the financial commentary site added that the S&P 500 is doing well enough as it continues to hold on to its gain of 0.7 percent.
Before trading was suspended, the Nasdaq Composite index was last seen at 3631.17, up 31.38 points.
Some of the most active stocks on the American stock exchange based in New York include Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Cisco, Yahoo, Intel, and Apple, among many others.
It is still not know what kind of technical issue caused the second largest stock exchange in the country to halt trading for more than two hours on Thursday.
Update: The Nasdaq OMX told MarketWatch it plans to reopen trading at some point for a 5-minute quote-only period. However, it has not been revealed when that five-minute window will occur.
Update 2: CNBC is reporting that the Nasdaq will go live again for Tape C Securities at 11:45 a.m. PT/2:45 p.m. ET. Regular trading will follow at 12:10 p.m. PT/3:10 p.m. ET and then options will resume 15 minutes later.
Update 3: The Nasdaq OMX confirmed the original timetable. The stock exchange also added on its Web site that it will reopen trading in all Tape C securities with a 15-minute quote-only period, not 5 minutes.
The Nasdaq also said, "Customers who wish to cancel their orders may do so and any customer who wishes to not participate in the reopening should cancel their orders prior to the resumption of trading."
Update 4: The Nasdaq has pushed back the start time for all trading to resume to 12:25 p.m. PT/3:25 p.m. ET.
Update 5: Stocks listed on the Nasdaq have finally resumed trading after being out of pocket for roughly three hours.
This story originally appeared as "Nasdaq halts trading amid technical difficulties" on ZDNet.