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When the NYSE glitched, the world jumped

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Take it as a good sign for the future of media — and perhaps a sign also of heightened interest in China's stock market crash and Greece's financial crisis — that so many people were alarmed by a small technical glitch which caused the New York Stock Exchange to temporarily shut down trading on Wednesday (it resumed trading after nearly 4 hours.)

The NYSE often halts trading for a variety of non-glitch reasons, but it is known to have experienced quite a few unexpected technical glitches in its history, too. This particular glitch was not much of a surprise to most professionals who watch it on a regular basis. In fact, NYSE treated the matter as formally as it always does its errors.

Keep in mind, too, NYSE is legally required to keep communications about public information to a minimum. Still, we can take the jittery reaction as a sign that a lot of people are watching markets more closely in light of recent market phenomena.