Wall Street encounters technical issue, briefly sinking Berkshire stock

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) experienced a technical issue Monday morning that briefly caused Berkshire Hathaway’s stock price to sink nearly 100 percent and triggered trading halts on dozens of stocks. 

Berkshire Hathaway’s Class A stock dropped 99.97 percent shortly before 10 a.m., falling to $185.10 after closing at $627,400 on Friday afternoon. 

Trading in the company’s stock, along with 39 others, was halted due to a technical issue involving the publication of “industry-wide price bands,” a NYSE spokesperson said in a statement. 

“Shortly before noon, the issue was resolved and trading in the impacted stocks resumed,” the spokesperson said. “The NYSE is reviewing potentially impacted trades.” 

Berkshire’s stock shot up to more than $700,000 after resuming trading before settling back to around $626,000 on Monday afternoon.  

Other stocks halted amid the technical issue included AMC Entertainment Holdings, Chipotle Mexican Grill and GameStop Corp, according to NYSE. 

GameStop stock surged Monday morning after an account linked to meme stock trader Keith Gill, also known as “Roaring Kitty,” posted a screenshot on Reddit suggesting he had purchased a nearly $116 million stake in the video game retailer. 

Shares in GameStop were up more than 30 percent as of Monday afternoon, while fellow meme stock AMC was up 15 percent.