Bizarre Glitch on NYSE Briefly Causes 99.97% Berkshire Hathaway Discount
Berkshire Hathaway stocks were briefly offered at a 99.97% discount on Monday thanks to a bizarre glitch on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
According to CNBC, the glitch affected the A-class shares of the Warren Buffett-owned stock, and it appeared to affect the entirety of the morning trading period.
A similar glitch affected Barrick Gold and Nuscale Power.
The outlet claimed that trading was halted on all three stocks as soon as the glitch was discovered, and the glitch was caused by the price bands published by the Consolidated Tape Association (CTA), which provides real-time stock prices to all of the major exchanges.
According to the CTA, the Berkshire Hathaway discount — along with other similar discounts that affected major stocks like Bank of America and Chipotle — was caused by an issue with limit up and limit down price bands, which are used to combat market volatility. The issue, the company said, was probably caused by a recent software update.
The stocks were negatively impacted from 9:30 a.m. until 10:27 a.m. By 11:45 a.m., however, the matter had been resolved, and trading had resumed.
CTA also stated that they would revert to the previous version of the software when trading resumed on Tuesday, June 4, and the NYSE canceled erroneous trades in several securities, including Berkshire Hathaway’s A-shares. Fortunately, there were less than 4,000 recorded trades when the glitch was discovered, and the erroneous trades didn't negatively impact the trading of the B-class shares, which were down less than 1% on Monday, June 3.
Class A shares of Berkshire Hathaway normally sell for more than $600,000 a share on the NYSE.
In other stock news, GameStop stocks are enjoying a price resurgence after its prices jumped by over 60% last month.
The rally of the 2021 meme stock craze got a lot of attention and involved retail traders during pandemic lockdowns. Some, like YouTuber Matt Kohrs, continue to see it as a fight between the "little guy" and the establishment, while others, like Tom Sosnoff, CEO of tastylive, don't see it as having the same transformative power as in 2021.
GameStop shares had been essentially steady for the year until this recent spike. The shares rose by almost 60% in May, for a stunning 180% gain over the previous month. Another company that saw a spike was AMC, whose shares increased by more than 100% before leveling out.