With trading on the New York Stock Exchange halted by a still-unspecified technical issue, TheStreet's portfolio managers are unanimous that investors need to stay calm and let the situation resolve itself.
Jim Cramer and Jack Mohr, co-portfolio managers of Action Alerts PLUS wrote:
"As many of our subscribers have likely heard, the New York Stock Exchange has suspended trading temporarily in all stocks due to a technical glitch without providing further information.
Officials have stated that there are no indications at this point of a cyberattack, nor that simultaneous computer problems at United Airlines (UAL) and the NYSE are related. There has been some speculation that the exchange was working on a computer upgrade last night, but this rumor has yet to be confirmed.
There is no reason for undue distress, in our view, as the complications appear to be technical in nature. We would advise subscribers to await further clarity and a resumption in trading before making trades in the portfolio."
David Peltier, who is at the helm of Stocks Under $10 and Dividend Stock Advisor wrote:
"The steady selling in equities markets this morning was the quietest action we've seen all week -- until the New York Stock Exchange abruptly halted trading at 11:32 a.m. ET. Trades are executing on other exchanges, but we haven't seen a material move in the broader market averages over the past 90 minutes. I walked past the NYSE building after the outage started and, from the outside, it appeared to be business as usual.
"I see no reason to take any action in my portfolios until this situation is resolved. The good news, so far, is that there appears to be no connection, yet, between the outage and any terrorist or criminal activity. If we see a continued selloff once trading resumes, consider putting more cash to work, as we've been doing in recent weeks."
Bryan Ashenberg, who runs the Growth Seeker portfolio and is in charge of fundamental analysis for Trifecta Stocks said:
"The New York Stock Exchange is experiencing a technical glitch that has trading temporarily suspended. Officials of the exchange have tweeted that the problem they are experiencing is due to an internal technical issue and is not the result of a cyberattack.
"There is no reason for panic due to the stop in trading. Should the glitch actually be due to a cyber-attack, we would expect model portfolio holdings Fortinet (FTNT) and Verint (VRNT) to jump on the news.
"With that aside, remember that the weakness is the tape is due to continued Greece uncertainty and the ongoing Chinese stock market rout, which does carry meaningful ramifications as it is a wealth destroyer in the world's most veracious economy. So, it's not the halt that has our brow furrowed. That's just unfortunate timing."
And Doug Kass of Seabreeze Partners and author of Real Money Pro's Daily Diary raised the specter of connection between the technological glitches of the day.
"First United Airlines' computer "glitch," then ZeroHedge's site went down, then the WSJ.com site went down and now NYSE trading is halted.
Strange or just a coincidence?
Remember, this potentially important statement I wrote in "Turn And Face the Market's Changes" regarding the treachery of technology:
"In a paperless (and "cloudy") world, investors and citizens are not likely as safe as the markets assume."
