Oops.
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NEW YORK -- Erroneous trades briefly prompted shares of The Washington Post Co. to more than double in value Wednesday afternoon, triggering for the first time new circuit breakers put in place by the Securities and Exchange Commission after the "flash crash" that sent markets plunging last month.
A NYSE Euronext official said that trading in Post Co. stock was halted at 3:07 p.m. after three apparently erroneous trades went through NYSE Arca, an all-electronic trading platform. Two of the trades were for $919.18 per share, and another went through at $929.18 per share.
The company's shares had been trading at roughly $455 before the three transactions. Trading in Post Co. stock resumed five minutes later, at $453.25 a share.
It is still unclear exactly how the error occurred. NYSE Euronext officials say that millions of transactions take place daily and that a small fraction mistakenly take place at a price that neither the seller nor buyer intended.
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