It takes a disaster to shut down the Big Board
NEW YORK, Sept 16 (Reuters) - The New York Stock Exchange, the world's largest stock market, does not close lightly: It takes a calamitous event like a global war, an imminent financial collapse, or the air attack that killed thousands on Wall Street last week.
The Big Board, which started when 24 brokers met under a Wall Street buttonwood tree in 1792, prides itself on keeping its doors open at all times. Trading interruptions like the four-day hiatus last week have been far and few between, although the exchange has closed shortly for presidential funerals.
The NYSE, which trades more than $40 billion worth of stocks on an average day, is set to reopen on Monday after last week's air attack tore through New York's financial district, turned the landmark World Trade Center into a pile of rubble, and killed thousands.
The ensuing trading shutdown was the longest since the Great Depression in 1933, when the Big Board along with the nation's banks shut down for a special banking holiday.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt in March 1933 ordered a banking holiday to prevent bank runs and figure out which banks were about to collapse. As a result, the NYSE as well as banks were closed from Monday, March 6, through Tuesday, March 14, of that year.
The New York Stock Exchange's longest shutdown by far was at the outset of World War I in 1914. The NYSE that year shut its doors from the end of July through mid-December.
Here's a list of previous shut-downs:
DATE EVENT
-----------------------------------------------------------
Sept. 11-14, 2001 Hijacked planes smash into the World
Trade Center's twin towers, paralyzing
the financial district and killing
thousands.
Oct. 27, 1997 "Circuit breakers" triggered for first
time when the Dow Jones Industrial
average dropped 350 points, closing the
market at 2:35 p.m. for a half hour.
Trading reopened at 3:05 p.m. and the
Dow declined an additional 200 points,
touching off another mandated trading
halt at 3:30 p.m., ending trading for
the day.
April 27, 1994 Closed for funeral of Richard M. Nixon.
Sept. 27, 1985 Market closed due to Hurricane Gloria.
July 14, 1977 Closed due to blackout in New York.
Jan. 25, 1973 Closed for funeral of former President
Lyndon B. Johnson.
Dec. 28, 1972 Closed. Funeral of former President
Harry S Truman.
March 31, 1969 Closed. Funeral of former President
Eisenhower.
June 6, 1968 Closed from 11:00 a.m. to 11:02 a.m. in
memory of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.
April 9, 1968 National Day of Mourning for Martin
Luther King Jr.
Oct. 23, 1964 Closed at 2:00 p.m. - Funeral of former
President Herbert Hoover.
Nov. 25, 1963 Funeral of President John F. Kennedy.
Nov. 22, 1963 Closed at 2:07 p.m. Assassination of
President John F. Kennedy.
May 25, 1946 Railroad strike.
Aug. 15-16, 1945 V-J Day. End of World War II.
April 14, 1945 National Day of Mourning for President
Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Jan. 28, 1936 Closed from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. Funeral
of King George V of England.
Feb. 20, 1934 Opened late at 11 a.m. due to severe
snowstorm.
March 6-14, 1933 National banking holiday.
March 4, 1933 State banking holiday.
June 13, 1927 Parade for Col. Charles A.
Lindbergh.
Feb. 6, 1924 Closed 12:30 p.m. Funeral of former
President Woodrow Wilson.
Aug. 10, 1923 Funeral of President Harding at Marion,
Ohio.
Aug. 3, 1923 Death of President Warren G. Harding.
Feb. 11, 1918 Heatless day.
Feb. 4, 1918 Heatless day.
Jan. 28, 1918 Heatless day.
July 31-Nov. 28, 1914 Closed pending outbreak of World War I.
Reopened for trading in bonds with
price restrictions on Nov. 28, 1914;
for trading in a limited number of
stocks under price restrictions on Dec.
12, 1914; and for trading in all stocks,
under price restrictions, on Dec. 15,
1914. All restrictions were removed
Apr. 1, 1915.
April 14, 1913 Closed from 10 a.m.- Noon. Funeral of
J. P. Morgan.
May 20, 1910 Closed from 10 a.m.- Noon. Funeral of
King Edward VII.
May 7, 1910 Closed 11 a.m. Death of King Edward
VII of England.
April 22, 1903 Opening of new NYSE building.
Aug. 9, 1902 Coronation of King Edward VII of
England.
Sept. 19, 1901 Funeral of President William McKinley.
Sept. 14, 1901 Death of President William McKinley.
Feb. 2, 1901 Funeral of Queen Victoria of England.
Sept. 29-30, 1899 Admiral Dewey Celebration.
April 29-May 1, 1889 Centennial celebration of Washington's
inauguration.
Aug. 8, 1885 Funeral of former President Ulysses S.
Grant.
This list is based on information provided by the New york
Stock Exchange. |
