Panic on Wall Street as computer glitch sparks surge in trading

A technical glitch at a major Wall Street brokerage of stock trades caused wild swings in a number of stocks shortly after markets opened.

The malfunction occurred at Knight Capital, one of the largest processors of stock trades.

The company said in a statement that a ‘technology issue’ had occurred in its market-making unit related to the routing of shares of about 150 stocks to the New York Stock Exchange.