Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


                    NYSE Trading Halted; Tech Glitch Blamed

   by Jim Randle

   The New York Stock Exchange halted all trading midway through its
   Wednesday session. Exchange officials said a "technical issue" forced
   the suspension of trading.

   Before trading was stopped at 11:30 a.m. in New York, key U.S. indexes
   were down a bit more than 1 percent. Analysts said worries about
   China's slowing economic growth and stock market troubles worried some
   investors.

   The head of the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission, the government
   agency that supervises and regulates financial markets, said experts
   were monitoring the situation closely, and following trading in
   NYSE-listed stocks.

   ''
   SEC chief Mary Jo White noted that all stocks listed on the main New
   York exchange "continue to trade normally through other trading venues"
   or marketplaces.

   In Europe, however, where talks continued on Greece's debt problems,
   markets traded higher.
   Apart from the main New York exchange, share trading continued on other
   exchanges. The Wall Street Journal reported that the S&P 500 and other
   stock indexes were little changed from where they were before NYSE
   trading stopped.

   "It's under control. We're just waiting for word. There's no sign of
   panic at all," Mark Otto of J. Streicher & Co in New York said from the
   NYSE floor.

   Officials monitoring
   A White House official said on background President Barack Obama was
   briefed on the issue, and that White House and Treasury Department
   personnel are monitoring the incident.

   Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said problems at United
   Airlines and the New York Stock Exchange apparently are not related to
   "nefarious" activity.
   The New York Times reported that law enforcement officials were
   watching developments, but that they saw no early indication of
   "anything malicious" in the exchange's problems.
   The stock market's technical problems came on the same day that a
   computer problem forced United Airlines to ground all of its flights
   temporarily. The airline blamed a computer router for the glitch; after
   it was repaired flights resumed.

   Asia markets and Greece

   Beijing unveiled yet another battery of measures to arrest the sell-off
   in shares and the securities regulator warned of "panic sentiment"
   gripping investors in the world's second-largest economy.

   Chinese shares have fallen more than 30 percent in the last three
   weeks, and some investors fear China's turmoil is now a bigger risk
   than the crisis in Greece.

   "With China, investors fear that could be indicative of a broader
   economic weakness," said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James
   in St. Petersburg, Florida.

   "We've seen commodity prices fall in the recent days and there's the
   fear that China may be slowing down a lot more than previously
   thought."

   Copper prices fell to a six-year low and oil prices hit a three-month
   low.

   Fears of a slow down in China will be a concern for U.S. companies,
   especially materials and industrial companies, which derive a chunk of
   their profit from the region.

   U.S.-listed shares of Chinese companies took a beating, with Alibaba
   falling 1.9 percent. Baidu fell 3.2 percent and Weibo fell 3.8 percent.
   Eurozone members have asked Greece to come up with new proposals for a
   special EU summit on Sunday.

   Investors looking for clues on the timing of a U.S. interest rate hike
   will study the minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve's June 16-17
   meeting, due at 2 p.m. ET.

   Some information from The Assocaited Press and Reuters was used in this
   report.


     __________________________________________________________________

   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/new-york-stock-exchange-suspends-trad
   ing-technical-glitch-/2853621.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/new-york-stock-exchange-suspends-trading-technical-glitch-/2853621.html