PHILLIPS: Closing bell, the New York Stock Exchange rings every day at the end of LIVE FROM. But imagine buying or selling so frenzied that trading would have to be shut down early. It happened today in Japan after a panicked sell-off. CNN's Ali Velshi here to explain. What does it mean for us?</s>ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: That's kind of one of those things you count on, that the closing's bell going to ring in about a minute. Well in Japan yesterday, at the close of trade, there was a company that was being investigated for some securities violations, some accounting violations that caused a trigger to sell-off. The Japanese market's been really hot and they had to close the market 20 minutes early. It's the first time they've ever closed the Nikkei early in its 57 years of trading. And remember, because they had to close it early, that means some people who were trying to sell couldn't get out. The Nikkei opens again at 7:00 p.m. Eastern time, so we're about three hours away. We're going to see what happens there. Not a lot of effect on U.S. markets right now, although U.S. markets are closing lower today, Kyra.</s>PHILLIPS: So what happened?</s>VELSHI: Well they just -- the market had done very well and people were looking for an excuse to sell, and this was it -- an accounting scandal that gave everybody a reason to run for the hills. So we'll have to see. The Japanese market's been a lot hotter than this one has been, so, probably no effect here.
Trading Ends Early at Tokyo Stock Exchange