NYSE: How Twitter reacted to New York Stock Exchange 'glitch'

Trading at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) was suspended on Wednesday due to a "technical issue" - but that didn't stop Twitter users declaring it a sign the world was about to end.

News of the NYSE shutdown broke at about 11:30 ET (15:30 GMT) - just hours after US carrier United Airlines had grounded all of its flights after an unspecified computer issue.

Coincidence? Probably. But then the Wall Street Journal website also went down. Cue hysteria, panic, and bad jokes.

Fortunately there were plenty of people in New York to check on the rest of the city:

So what happened?!

Could it have been the result of the growing need to charge our mobile phones?

Or maybe the NYSE was hacked? After all, hacking group Anonymous had tweeted this just yesterday:

But the NYSE was quick to try and stamp out those rumours:

Of course, if in doubt, always blame the IT guys:

In classic Twitter fashion, everyone started making the same joke:

Thankfully there were a few more inventive Twitter comics out there:

[Confused? See here]

Before long, everyone started planning their next moves:

But then just as things were getting exciting, it was all over:

Still, spare a thought for those caught up in Glitch Wednesday: