NYSE Technical Glitch Misreports Berkshire Hathaway Shares Down 99%

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) experienced a significant technical issue that caused the prices of several stocks to fluctuate dramatically. Notably, Berkshire Hathaway's Class A shares appeared to drop nearly 100%, from over $620,000 to $185.10, prompting a halt in trading. The NYSE stated that the issue was related to the "limit up, limit down" bands, which are mechanisms designed to control extreme volatility. Shares of other companies, including Barrick Gold and Nuscale Power, were also affected.

The technical problem did not significantly impact major market indices, such as the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, and Nasdaq Composite. The NYSE is currently investigating the cause of the issue. In response to the incident, there have been discussions about the potential role of decentralized technologies, such as Chainlink's oracle network, in providing more accurate and real-time data feeds to prevent such occurrences in the future.

Despite the dramatic drop in Berkshire Hathaway's Class A shares, the company's Class B shares experienced a minor decline of less than 1%. Warren Buffett, the largest shareholder of Berkshire Hathaway, who owns more than 38% of its Class A shares, has not made any public comments regarding the incident. The NYSE has yet to provide a detailed explanation but has assured that it is working on resolving the technical glitch.