Yesterday’s much-anticipated New York Stock Exchange direct listing by Palantir went off without an Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez-shaped hitch. That, of course, doesn’t mean it went smoothly.
Palantir’s debut was mired by technical issues with Morgan Stanley software that prevented some existing investors in the company from unloading shares for much of the afternoon…. Palantir employees use Morgan Stanley’s stock-plan business, called Shareworks, which suffered from technical difficulties Wednesday…. The problems eased late in the day, and the system was fully functional by 3:30 p.m. ET, according to a person familiar with the matter. Some individuals’ sell orders were able to be executed on the platform before the close of trading. Others said they struggled to sell their stock through the closing bell and were also unable to sell by phone.
Of course, by then Palantir’s non-IPO bump had dissipated. Still, the NYSE must be relieved to not only have pulled off two direct listings at once—Asana also used the new system yesterday—but to have the technological snafu be someone else’s fault for once. And, of course, it could have been so much worse.
Japanese shares remained suspended at midday break on Thursday after the Tokyo Stock Exchange earlier halted trading in all stocks citing technical problems….
“The timing is really just bad,” Takashi Hiroki, chief strategist at Monex in Tokyo, said about the trading halt, adding many market participants were hoping to buy back their stocks or increase their holdings following an overnight rise on Wall Street.
Palantir Grabs $21 Billion Valuation, but Debut Comes With a Hiccup [WSJ]
Palantir Shares Go Up in Wall Street Debut [NYT]
AOC called for investigation on Palantir before it went public [CNET]
Japan stocks trade halted due to technical glitch; Nikkei futures rise [Reuters]