Nasdaq OMX Group Canceled Pre Market Trades in 9 Companies

Nasdaq OMX Group (NDAQ) terminated some pre market trading in nine companies on Thursday. The names include Citigroup ,Goldman Sachs Group , and Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ), according to a trader notice from Nasdaq.

The exchange operator said it's going to cancel all trades in the nine Companies that priced above 10% from Wednesday's ending price during the last minute ahead of the open up on Thursday. Immediately after informing traders to check into their trading activity for trades which could be designated as "definitely erroneous," Nasdaq later said the exchange "will be canceling trades on the participants behalf."

A New York Stock Exchange representative said it was not affected and isn't canceling any trades. The decision comes after an earlier announcement that Nasdaq was investigating potentially erroneous buying and selling activity in between 9:29 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. EST in more than a dozen companies.

A spokesman from BATS Global Markets said the exchange didn't have affected trades. Other companies whose shares were affected include Kroger Co, Western Union Co., Ventas Inc., Wells Fargo,  AT&T and Sprint Nextel Corp. It had been the second occasion this week in which concerns have developed with regards to trading prior to the market's 9:30 a.m. EST open. On Wednesday, confusion over dividend payments to holders of shares of fiber-optics firm Tellabs Inc. ended up being suspected to be driving sharp ups and downs in its shares. Some investors appeared to think the cutoff for getting the dividend was this week as opposed to later this month.

Ben Bernanke Press Conference Video

Mr. Bernanke said the Fed will use a balanced approach in determining when and how quickly to raise rates. Fed policy makers said that they expect the Fed rate to stay very low as long as the unemployment rate remains above 6.5%, projected shorter-term inflation is no more than 2.5% and longer-term inflation expectations continue to be well anchored. He said that the inflation would be well below 2%. Mr. Bernanke said "no single indicator" provides a complete assessment of the labor market. The Fed will look to measures such the level of discouraged workers and the labor-force-participation rate in addition to the unemployment rate. Mr. Bernanke said that the threshold numbers would be based on substantial analysis. He said that Fed QE would continue till we have substantial employment gains.