Facebook IPO Glitches Cause Headaches for Nasdaq, Brokers and Traders

Facebook FB, the IPO of the decade, began its life with a whimper this morning as technical issues delayed the opening several times before finally getting underway at 11:30am at $42.05. Traders found their Facebook orders going unfilled and brokers were swamped with calls from those wanting to know why they had not received trade confirmations. Others were not able to change or cancel their orders. The Nasdaq NDAQ reported that Facebook confirmations would be sent at 1:50pm and Bloomberg reported soon after that all confirmation messages had been delivered. But a broker at Fidelity told Benzinga that all trade confirmation messages had not been sent and that the process would last the "entire weekend". Zynga ZNGA, trading heavily on the Facebook IPO, also had issues. Trading was halted twice on circuit breakers, an event which normally lasts 5 minutes. The first halt lasted 50 minutes and the second lasted over 1 hour. A Zynga spokesperson was unaware of the reason for the long delays. An NYSE NYX spokesperson had an official "no comment" when asked by Benzinga about NASDAQ's problems. But there appeared to be at least a hint of satisfaction in his voice.