The Dates That Trading Stopped

Trading halts and computer problems on major U.S. stock markets are infrequent, and their causes in recent years have ranged from fires to squirrels. A rundown:

* Nov. 10, 1989: The New York Stock Exchange opening delayed for 60 minutes because of a fire.

* Nov. 27, 1990: NYSE trading halted for 64 minutes because of a power problem.

* Dec. 27, 1990: NYSE opening delayed for 90 minutes because of a fire.

* Oct. 22, 1991: NYSE trading halted for 24 minutes because of a power outage.

* July 15, 1994: A failed computer device triggered a Nasdaq trading halt of more than an hour. That was followed barely two weeks later by a half-hour trading halt that was blamed on a squirrel’s chewing through the main communication line linking Nasdaq with its chief computer center in Trumbull, Conn.

* Dec. 18, 1995: NYSE trading halted for 60 minutes because of a communications problem.