The Five Dumbest Things on Wall Street This Week: Dec. 7

1. More Nasdaq Nonsense

Our good friends at Nasdaq (NDAQ) better not go into the obstetrics business. They surely would make a mess of the delivery room if they did.

The electronic exchange was forced to delay the initial public offering of WhiteHorse Finance (WHF) on Wednesday after a case of "human error" screwed up its originally scheduled opening. The stock eventually opened for trading late in the day, but not before dredging up bad memories of last May's Facebook fiasco on Nasdaq.

According to a Reuters account, Nasdaq agreed with WhiteHorse and its underwriter to push trading beyond its 11 a.m. takeoff slot. However, some fat-fingered (or fat-headed, we're not sure yet) employee canceled the IPO instead of delaying it by a few minutes. Eventually the stock did open for trading at 3 p.m., but not before Nasdaq needed to annul all the stock's pending orders and replace them with new ones.

Oh, yeah, as for the shares, WhiteHorse priced its stock at $15, and it finished the day's trading -- or should we say, the hour's trading -- at $13.90. The business development company sold 6.67 million shares into the market, raising $100 million.

Not that the stock's actual performance matters, though. Or even the company itself.

You see, Wall Street traders have no problem throwing out the baby with the bathwater. It's the birth mark their superstitious natures won't let them forget.

And, quite sadly, because of Nasdaq's latest foul-up, WhiteHorse is now scarred for life.

Disclosure: TheStreet's editorial policy prohibits staff editors and reporters from holding positions in any individual stocks.

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