The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) halted trading in all securities for an undisclosed technological issue from 11.32 a.m. on Wednesday.
"We're currently experiencing a technical issue that we're working to resolve as quickly as possible," Marissa Arnold, an NYSE spokesperson, said in an e-mailed statement. "We will be providing further updates as soon as we can, and are doing our utmost to produce a swift resolution, communicate thoroughly and transparently, and ensure a timely and orderly market re-open," Xinhua quoted her as saying.
However, trading of NYSE securities on other platforms including NASDAQ was unaffected.
Nasdaq said in a statement that it is "operating normally and we are able to trade tape A securities (NYSE-listed companies."
The website of Wall Street Journal was also temporary out of use for a while around midday for technical difficulties, and was resumed shortly.
The NYSE technical issue came soon after the United Airlines grounded planes at US airports for two hours due to a computer glitch.
NYSE and US officials reported this as a technical glitch and not the result of a cyber attack. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said no law enforcement action is needed at NYSE.