Nasdaq is the second largest US stock exchange. Last Thursday, all trading were halted shortly after encountering a technical problem. The technical issue confronted the stock exchange during midday according to Nasdaq.

The traffic through Nasdaq ceased at 12:14 pm EDT, said the exchange on its website. Nasdaq, which lists about 3,200 companies, cited a problem that caused disturbance on stock price quotes. The exchange said that trading resumed shortly after the halt.

On the other hand, NYSE Euronext also ceased all trading in Nasdaq-listed shares. This was in accordance of the stock exchange request to New York Stock Exchange's parent, NYSE Euronext. The US Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it would monitor developments and was in touch with the exchanges on the matter.

Goldman Sachs also encountered technical problems earlier and resulted to a flood of erroneous order sent to US equity options markets. Nasdaq said that options trading were also halted.