US stock exchanges close as New York Prepared
for Hurricane Sandy
US stock trading was closed on Monday 29th
October and will almost certainly remain so on Tuesday 30th in
response to Hurricane Sandy - the first time in 27 years the markets have shut
down for a full day because of the weather.
NYSE Euronext, which runs the New York Stock
Exchange (NYSE), had previously said that electronic trading would remain open
and that only the exchange's trading floor would close.
The company said that 'the dangerous
conditions developing as a result of Hurricane Sandy will make it extremely
difficult to ensure the safety of our people and communities, and safety must
be our first priority.'
The Nasdaq exchange and New York Mercantile
Exchange (NYMEX) both remained closed, the latter shutting its trading
floor which is located in a mandatory evacuation zone in lower Manhattan. But NYMEX
electronic markets will open at their regularly scheduled times.
Bond markets have been recommended an early
noon close by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. Its
member firms will decide themselves whether their fixed-income departments
remain open for trading.
Since the Great Depression, the longest
suspension in trading at the NYSE occurred after the terrorist attacks on the
World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, when the exchange closed for four
days.
The moves come as Hurricane Sandy causes the
shutdown of transportation systems throughout the region, with weather
forecasters warning the approaching storm has the potential to be the largest
storm ever to hit the United States. The monthly jobs data, the non-farm payrolls,
is due out on Friday, which would be the last major update on the state of the
economy before the US presidential election next week.
Jobs are one of the most important election
issues in the US and have been a hotly debated topic between President Obama
and his challenger Mitt Romney.
In London the FTSE closed down eleven points at
5795