Business Notes SECURITIES

The over-the-counter stock market has not had many good days lately. So when prices were going up last Wednesday, the last thing traders needed was an unexpected 82-minute shutdown of the computerized NASDAQ system that provides quotations on over-the-counter stocks. The mysterious malfunction helped reduce that day's trading volume to 82.5 million shares, just over half the average activity.

If any traders smelled a rat, they were not far wrong. The problem was traced to a squirrel that is thought to have scampered onto a power line in Connecticut while carrying a piece of aluminum foil. That caused a power failure that cut off electricity to more than 2,000 area homes and businesses -- and knocked out NASDAQ computers in Trumbull, Conn. Traders may have lost a chance to make money, but at least their problem was only temporary. The squirrel was electrocuted.