September 15, 2001 U.S. Stock Markets Will Reopen
On Monday, Market Officials Say
By KATE KELLY
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
NEW YORK -- Market officials at both the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Stock Market said they will reopen as planned on Monday morning after tests Saturday proved successful.
"Based on today's evaluation of our systems ... at 9:30 [a.m. EDT] Monday morning trading will resume,'' said Big Board chairman Richard A. Grasso.
Nasdaq's chief executive, Hardwick Simmons, said "All our Nasdaq systems are fully operational and will be fully ready on Monday." He added, "We had terrific connectivity tests this morning, [and] virtually all of our participants were connected within the first two hours."
Mr. Grasso said the New York Stock Exchange would observe two minutes of silence before the start of trading on Monday to honor the thousands of people believed killed in the trade center attack and another assault on the Pentagon. He said those on the exchange floor would also join in singing "God Bless America."
The Big Board, Nasdaq Stock Market and American Stock Exchange have been closed since Tuesday, when two hijacked planes crashed into and destroyed the World Trade Center's twin towers and forced the shutdown of the city's Financial District.
Nasdaq's test had begun at 9:30 a.m. EDT, the time when U.S. markets normally open, and is intended to run until 4:00 p.m. However, tests for some trading firms, including Deutsche Bank AG's Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown Inc., Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, and Thomas Weisel Partners, went smoothly enough that senior traders were able to leave their offices as early as noon.
Of Nasdaq's approximately 443 trading firms -- known as "market makers" because they typically risk their own capital to make trades happen -- only about five percent had been unable to connect to Nasdaq's technical systems, estimated Mr. Simmons. A notice posted Friday on Nasdaq's Web site for traders (www.nasdaqtrader.com) announced that two former tenants of the World Trade Center towers, Keefe, Bruyette, & Woods and Sandler, O'Neill, & Partners, would suspend their market-making operations altogether.
Many Nasdaq traders expressed optimism for Monday's open, in spite of a possible surge in trading volume that theoretically could stress trading systems. "The possibility is out there, that we're going to do three times the normal daily volume, and we have to be prepared for that," said Adam Tracy, head of listed, or NYSE and American Stock Exchange trading, for Thomas Weisel in San Francisco. Given that the markets have been closed since early Tuesday, "There's just been four days of pent up demand," he added.
Telephone and utility workers on Saturday continued reconnecting services at or near the New York Stock Exchange, but "our system are all go," Mr. Grasso said at an early afternoon news conference. The Big Board, located about five blocks from the World Trade Center site, didn't sustain any damage in the attacks. Brokers and investment bankers whose offices were destroyed or damaged had to scramble to find temporary space to do business.
Mr. Grasso said "I would encourage you to listen for the opening bell at 9:30 a.m. Monday morning, at the recreation of the greatest equity market the world has ever known," Mr. Grasso said Friday.
The other exchanges also have had trading issues to sort out in the wake of the attacks and ahead of the resumption of trading.
The American Exchange, which was located closer to the World Trade Center site than the Big Board, sustained enough damage that its trading floor is not usable. Its operations are expected to be temporarily relocated to the New York Stock Exchange and other regional markets, said Amex spokesman Bob Rendine.
The Nasdaq's administrative headquarters are across from the World Trade Center site, but most of its trading is done electronically. Still, like other marketplaces, it relies on infrastructure in the financial district to connect to the trading community.
About $100 billion worth of trades are conducted every day in the U.S., bringing the estimated losses from the shutdown to $400 billion, according to the Securities Industry Association. Investment firms suffered many millions of dollars more in damage.
-- The Associated Press contributed to this article. |
