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

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Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York - 8 July 2015Image source, AP

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.

Tweet by Kadhim Shubber - 8 July 2015Image source, Twitter

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

Tweet by Nicky Woolf - 8 July 2015Image source, Twitter

So what happened?!

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

Tweet by Matt Fuller - 8 July 2015Image source, Twitter

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

Tweet by Anonymous - 8 July 2015Image source, Twitter

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

Tweet by NYSE - 8 July 2015Image source, Twitter

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

Tweet by Carl Quintanilla - 8 July 2015Image source, Twitter

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

Tweet by Spencer Ackerman - 8 July 2015Image source, Twitter

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

Tweet by Hayes Brown - 8 July 2015Image source, Twitter
Tweet by Brian Fung - 8 July 2015Image source, Twitter

[Confused? See here]

Before long, everyone started planning their next moves:

Tweet by Ben Jacobs - 8 July 2015Image source, Twitter

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

Tweet by Tom Gara - 8 July 2015Image source, Twitter
Tweet by NYSE - 8 July 2015Image source, Twitter

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

Tweet by Adam Steinbaugh - 8 July 2015Image source, Twitter