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©Washington Post
© St. Petersburg Times, published September 16, 2001
NEW YORK -- All systems are ready for reopening the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Stock Market on Monday, officials said Saturday after completing a successful test of their computer and communications networks.
NYSE chairman Richard Grasso said trading will begin at 9:30 a.m., ending a four-day halt, the longest since the Great Depression. He urged employees to get there early because security will be extremely tight.
Billions of dollars are riding on how Monday's markets unfold: There are more than 3,000 domestic and foreign companies listed on the NYSE exchange alone, with a total market capitalization of more than $17-trillion.
Saturday's testing was designed in part to give investors confidence in the markets, but questions remain about how they will react to the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks and the latest moves by the president and Congress putting the United States on a war footing.
Many professional investors are expecting a blizzard of sell orders. Extraordinary protective measures are being taken: Investment firms and corporations have agreed to prop up prices by buying shares if selling threatens to send the markets into a free fall.
The NYSE, Nasdaq and American Stock Exchange have been shuttered since Tuesday, when terrorists flew commercial airliners into the World Trade Center's twin towers. The American Stock Exchange, which also plans to resume trading Monday, has moved some of its operations to the floor of the rival New York exchange.
The NYSE, about five blocks from the World Trade Center, went unharmed in the attack, although a telephone operation was knocked out, cutting off some communications systems used in trading. Several investment firms also sustained huge casualties and property damage.
An unusually emotional and casual attitude prevailed among the traders and technicians Saturday, many of whom hugged after seeing each other for the first time since the towers collapsed.
The NYSE tests, which will continue today, showed that participants that account for at least 90 percent of the volume are connected. Participants representing 98 percent of Nasdaq volume reported no problems.