Associated Press
Associated Press
NEW YORK — It’s turning out to be one costly glitch.
A technical problem that briefly threw dozens of stocks into chaos Wednesday will cost Knight Capital Group $440 million, the trading firm said Thursday. Knight’s own stock plunged for a second day, erasing 75 percent of its value in two days. The company also said it is pursuing ways to raise money to fund the expense, raising questions about the firm’s viability. And at least two financial institutions announced they had halted trading with Knight, at least temporarily.
Knight’s embattled CEO Thomas Joyce appeared publicly for the first time Thursday to defend his firm in the aftermath of the trading disaster.
“You cannot keep people from doing stupid things,” Joyce said in an interview on Bloomberg Television. “That is what happens when you have a culture of risk.”
In the two days since the glitch occurred, Knight’s stock has fallen to $2.58 from $10.33 on Tuesday. Knight takes orders from brokers like TD Ameritrade and E-Trade and routes them to the exchanges where shares are traded.
E-Trade Financial and Vanguard said they were not routing trades through Knight for the time being, but would continue to assess the situation. Vanguard spokesman John Woerth called Knight “a longtime and valued partner.”