Amex doesn’t open; nobody notices

The World’s Most Unnecessary Securities Exchange™ certainly earned its title Friday, when, a technical glitch—the third in less than two weeks—delayed opening equities and ETF trading by 45 minutes. While still listing more ETFs than any other US exchange, the Amex captures barely 5 percent of daily ETF volume, and a significantly lower share of the most heavily traded instruments.

Friday’s snafu was caused by mismatched ticker symbols on an exchange server, according to an Amex spokeswoman. The earlier glitches were ascribed to “connectivity problems” between customers using legacy systems, and the exchange’s new AEMI trading platform. And how high are we setting the bar?

The exchange’s spokesman said that Amex was happy with AEMI’s performance...

That condo plan is looking better by the day. Although if someone doesn’t a wriggle on, guess which famous American financial institution is going to add missing the real estate market to its already glistening record of blithering incompetence and institutional corruption? Pre-interment ceremonies after the jump.

Trading glitch sparks third Amex shutdown [Free registration reqd]
by Paula Schaap
Financial News Jun. 29 2007

American Stock Exchange Trading Halted for Two Hours
by Jeff Kearns
Bloomberg Jun. 21 2007