It’s a glitch that Wall Street exchanges just can’t manage to scratch.
Less than 24 hours after the Securities and Exchange Commission hosted a roundtable discussion on how to mend the computer-error-ridden exchanges, errant trades sent Kraft Food Group’s stock soaring briefly yesterday.
The erroneous trades were cancelled by all exchanges after they occurred within the first minute of the exchanges’ 9:30 a.m. opening.
Kraft stock shot up nearly 30 percent to $58 in just 60 seconds before a batch of wrong-way orders were nixed.
Shares of the Illinois-based consumer-goods conglomerate, which opened the day at $45.55, ultimately closed down 1.2 percent to $44.87.
Less than 1 percent of the roughly 28 million shares of Kraft that changed hands were affected by the error, according to one exchange source.
The glitch was triggered, sources said, by faulty multiple limit orders to buy Kraft shares.
Approximately six exchanges were involved, including NYSE’s Arca exchange, Nasdaq (where Kraft is listed) and Direct Edge.
Nasdaq, which lured Kraft from the Big Board just this past summer, instantly went on the defensive after the botched trades — batting away rumors it was the source of the problem.
“Trading in Kraft was affected by a broker error that impacted multiple stock exchanges,” said a spokesman.
“Nasdaq’s systems performed normally, and the industry’s process for handling these issues worked as intended,” he added.
A NYSE spokeswoman declined to comment.
Although the exchanges appeared to contain the damage, the order is the latest in an unfortunate string of flubs, including Facebook’s glitch-ridden trading debut in May and Knight Capital’s $440 million loss, that have shaken market confidence since the May 2010 Flash Crash.