Squirrels Shut Down the Markets Twice

Are squirrels planning to bankrupt America financially? Let's leave zoologists to answer that query. In recent years, so-called flash crashes have been caused by bugs in computer algorithms, but the longest the Nasdaq has ever been down was in the 1990s. However, given that they have already shut down the Stock Market twice, there is growing evidence that the small rodents have something against it. Between natural disasters and war, it would be difficult to identify many events that have ever caused the stock exchange to close twice. However, squirrels did it.

A squirrel shorted electrical systems at the National Association of Securities Dealers in 1987, causing 82 minutes of market closure. It was believed that as a result, around 20 million shares could not be exchanged. The stock exchange was shut down for 34 minutes in 1994 when another squirrel chewed through some wires that the backup systems weren't equipped to replace.