diff --git a/jbatch/pom.xml b/jbatch/pom.xml
index 52d59f4..c2e5535 100644
--- a/jbatch/pom.xml
+++ b/jbatch/pom.xml
@@ -251,6 +251,8 @@
           and it avoids to spread it over all our executions
           -->
           <systemProperties>
+            <openejb.additional.exclude>com.ibm</openejb.additional.exclude>
+
             <batchee.service-manager.log>true</batchee.service-manager.log>
 
             <!-- replace properties file -->
diff --git a/jbatch/src/main/java/org/apache/batchee/container/impl/controller/chunk/ChunkStepController.java b/jbatch/src/main/java/org/apache/batchee/container/impl/controller/chunk/ChunkStepController.java
index 6d72ccd..fad9406 100755
--- a/jbatch/src/main/java/org/apache/batchee/container/impl/controller/chunk/ChunkStepController.java
+++ b/jbatch/src/main/java/org/apache/batchee/container/impl/controller/chunk/ChunkStepController.java
@@ -26,7 +26,6 @@
 import org.apache.batchee.container.proxy.ProxyFactory;
 import org.apache.batchee.container.services.ServicesManager;
 import org.apache.batchee.container.util.PartitionDataWrapper;
-import org.apache.batchee.container.util.TCCLObjectInputStream;
 import org.apache.batchee.jaxb.Chunk;
 import org.apache.batchee.jaxb.Property;
 import org.apache.batchee.jaxb.Step;
@@ -215,7 +214,6 @@
         List<Object> chunkToWrite = new ArrayList<Object>();
         Object itemRead;
         Object itemProcessed;
-        int readProcessedCount = 0;
 
         while (true) {
             currentItemStatus = new SingleItemStatus();
@@ -641,14 +639,14 @@
 
     private void updateNormalMetrics(int writeCount) {
         int readCount = currentChunkStatus.getItemsTouchedInCurrentChunk();
-        if (currentChunkStatus.isFinished()) {
+        if (currentChunkStatus.isFinished() && !BatchStatus.STOPPING.equals(stepContext.getBatchStatus())) {
             readCount--;
         }
         int filterCount = readCount - writeCount;
 
         if (readCount < 0 || filterCount < 0 || writeCount < 0) {
-            throw new IllegalStateException("Somehow one of the metrics was zero.  Read count: " + readCount +
-                    ", Filter count: " + filterCount + ", Write count: " + writeCount);
+            throw new IllegalStateException("Somehow one of the metrics was less than zero.  " +
+                    "Read count: " + readCount + ", Filter count: " + filterCount + ", Write count: " + writeCount);
         }
         stepContext.getMetric(MetricImpl.MetricType.COMMIT_COUNT).incValue();
         stepContext.getMetric(MetricImpl.MetricType.READ_COUNT).incValueBy(readCount);
@@ -1020,7 +1018,6 @@
             // check for data in backing store
             if (writerData != null) {
                 byte[] writertoken = writerData.getRestartToken();
-                TCCLObjectInputStream writerOIS;
                 try {
                     writerProxy.open((Serializable) dataRepresentationService.toJavaRepresentation(writertoken));
                 } catch (Exception ex) {
diff --git a/jbatch/src/main/java/org/apache/batchee/container/services/callback/SimpleJobExecutionCallbackService.java b/jbatch/src/main/java/org/apache/batchee/container/services/callback/SimpleJobExecutionCallbackService.java
index f98eedd..bbf1465 100644
--- a/jbatch/src/main/java/org/apache/batchee/container/services/callback/SimpleJobExecutionCallbackService.java
+++ b/jbatch/src/main/java/org/apache/batchee/container/services/callback/SimpleJobExecutionCallbackService.java
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
 import java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentMap;
 import java.util.concurrent.CopyOnWriteArrayList;
 import java.util.concurrent.CountDownLatch;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 
 public class SimpleJobExecutionCallbackService implements JobExecutionCallbackService {
     private final ConcurrentMap<Long, Collection<CountDownLatch>> waiters = new ConcurrentHashMap<Long, Collection<CountDownLatch>>();
@@ -54,18 +55,18 @@
                 toRelease = existing;
             }
         }
-
-        // check before blocking
-        final InternalJobExecution finalCheckExec = ServicesManager.find().service(BatchKernelService.class).getJobExecution(id);
-        if (finalCheckExec != null && Batches.isDone(finalCheckExec.getBatchStatus())) {
-            waiters.remove(id);
+        if (checkIsDone(id)) {
             return;
         }
 
         final CountDownLatch latch = new CountDownLatch(1);
         toRelease.add(latch);
         try {
-            latch.await();
+            while (!latch.await(1, TimeUnit.SECONDS)) {
+                if (checkIsDone(id)) {
+                    return;
+                }
+            }
             waiters.remove(id);
         } catch (final InterruptedException e) {
             throw new BatchContainerRuntimeException(e);
@@ -76,4 +77,14 @@
     public void init(final Properties batchConfig) {
         // no-op
     }
+
+    private boolean checkIsDone(final long id) {
+        // check before blocking
+        final InternalJobExecution finalCheckExec = ServicesManager.find().service(BatchKernelService.class).getJobExecution(id);
+        if (finalCheckExec != null && Batches.isDone(finalCheckExec.getBatchStatus())) {
+            waiters.remove(id);
+            return true;
+        }
+        return false;
+    }
 }
diff --git a/jbatch/src/main/java/org/apache/batchee/container/services/factory/DefaultBatchArtifactFactory.java b/jbatch/src/main/java/org/apache/batchee/container/services/factory/DefaultBatchArtifactFactory.java
index 962c044..35a6252 100755
--- a/jbatch/src/main/java/org/apache/batchee/container/services/factory/DefaultBatchArtifactFactory.java
+++ b/jbatch/src/main/java/org/apache/batchee/container/services/factory/DefaultBatchArtifactFactory.java
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
 import javax.xml.stream.XMLStreamReader;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException;
 import java.net.URL;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Collection;
@@ -57,14 +58,18 @@
             try {
                 final Class<?> artifactClass = tccl.loadClass(batchId);
                 if (artifactClass != null) {
-                    loadedArtifact = artifactClass.newInstance();
+                    loadedArtifact = artifactClass.getConstructor().newInstance();
                 }
             } catch (final ClassNotFoundException e) {
                 throw new BatchContainerRuntimeException("Tried but failed to load artifact with id: " + batchId, e);
+            } catch (final NoSuchMethodException e) {
+                throw new BatchContainerRuntimeException("Tried but failed to load artifact with id: " + batchId, e);
             } catch (final InstantiationException e) {
                 throw new BatchContainerRuntimeException("Tried but failed to load artifact with id: " + batchId, e);
             } catch (final IllegalAccessException e) {
                 throw new BatchContainerRuntimeException("Tried but failed to load artifact with id: " + batchId, e);
+            } catch (final InvocationTargetException e) {
+                throw new BatchContainerRuntimeException("Tried but failed to load artifact with id: " + batchId, e.getCause());
             }
         }
 
diff --git a/jbatch/src/main/java/org/apache/batchee/container/services/transaction/NoTxMgrBatchTransactionService.java b/jbatch/src/main/java/org/apache/batchee/container/services/transaction/NoTxMgrBatchTransactionService.java
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..8454521
--- /dev/null
+++ b/jbatch/src/main/java/org/apache/batchee/container/services/transaction/NoTxMgrBatchTransactionService.java
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements. See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership. The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.batchee.container.services.transaction;
+
+import java.util.Properties;
+
+import javax.batch.runtime.context.StepContext;
+
+import org.apache.batchee.container.exception.BatchContainerServiceException;
+import org.apache.batchee.container.exception.TransactionManagementException;
+import org.apache.batchee.spi.TransactionManagementService;
+import org.apache.batchee.spi.TransactionManagerAdapter;
+
+public class NoTxMgrBatchTransactionService implements TransactionManagementService {
+    private final TransactionManagerAdapter adapter = new DefaultNonTransactionalManager();
+
+    @Override
+    public void init(final Properties batchConfig) throws BatchContainerServiceException {
+        // no-op
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public TransactionManagerAdapter getTransactionManager(final StepContext stepContext) throws TransactionManagementException {
+        return adapter;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/jbatch/src/test/java/org/apache/batchee/container/impl/ChunkStepControllerTest.java b/jbatch/src/test/java/org/apache/batchee/container/impl/ChunkStepControllerTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3692972
--- /dev/null
+++ b/jbatch/src/test/java/org/apache/batchee/container/impl/ChunkStepControllerTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements. See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership. The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.batchee.container.impl;
+
+import static org.testng.Assert.assertEquals;
+
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Properties;
+import java.util.concurrent.CountDownLatch;
+
+import javax.batch.api.chunk.AbstractItemReader;
+import javax.batch.api.chunk.AbstractItemWriter;
+import javax.batch.operations.JobOperator;
+import javax.batch.runtime.JobExecution;
+import javax.batch.runtime.StepExecution;
+
+import org.apache.batchee.container.services.ServicesManager;
+import org.apache.batchee.container.services.persistence.MemoryPersistenceManagerService;
+import org.apache.batchee.container.services.transaction.NoTxMgrBatchTransactionService;
+import org.apache.batchee.spi.PersistenceManagerService;
+import org.apache.batchee.spi.TransactionManagementService;
+import org.apache.batchee.util.Batches;
+import org.testng.annotations.Test;
+
+public class ChunkStepControllerTest {
+    @Test
+    public void earlyStop() throws InterruptedException {
+        final JobOperator operator = new JobOperatorImpl(new ServicesManager() {{
+            init(new Properties() {{
+                setProperty(PersistenceManagerService.class.getSimpleName(), MemoryPersistenceManagerService.class.getName());
+                setProperty(TransactionManagementService.class.getSimpleName(), NoTxMgrBatchTransactionService.class.getName());
+            }});
+        }});
+
+        final long id = operator.start("stop-chunk", new Properties());
+        Reader.LATCH.await();
+        operator.stop(id);
+        Batches.waitFor(operator, id);
+        final List<StepExecution> stepExecutions = operator.getStepExecutions(id);
+        final StepExecution stepExecution = stepExecutions.iterator().next();
+        assertEquals("STOPPED", stepExecution.getExitStatus()); // before (BATCHEE-138) it was FAILED
+    }
+
+    public static class Reader extends AbstractItemReader {
+        static final CountDownLatch LATCH = new CountDownLatch(8);
+
+        @Override
+        public Object readItem() throws Exception {
+            LATCH.countDown();
+            return new Object();
+        }
+    }
+
+    public static class Writer extends AbstractItemWriter {
+        @Override
+        public void writeItems(final List<Object> list) {
+            // no-op
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/jbatch/src/test/resources/META-INF/batch-jobs/stop-chunk.xml b/jbatch/src/test/resources/META-INF/batch-jobs/stop-chunk.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e467480
--- /dev/null
+++ b/jbatch/src/test/resources/META-INF/batch-jobs/stop-chunk.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<!--
+  See the NOTICE file distributed with this work for additional information
+  regarding copyright ownership. Licensed under the Apache License,
+  Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+  with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+  Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+  distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+  WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+  See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+  limitations under the License.
+-->
+<job id="stop-chunk" version="1.0" xmlns="http://xmlns.jcp.org/xml/ns/javaee">
+  <step id="test">
+    <chunk>
+      <reader ref="org.apache.batchee.container.impl.ChunkStepControllerTest$Reader" />
+      <writer ref="org.apache.batchee.container.impl.ChunkStepControllerTest$Writer" />
+    </chunk>
+  </step>
+</job>