NEW YORK (Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq repeated on Saturday that, despite the arrival of Hurricane Irene in New York, both expect to conduct a normal trading session to start the week.
With the powerful storm roaring up the U.S. East Coast, setting off evacuations in parts of New York City and across the Eastern Seaboard, the NYSE Euronext (NYX.N) and Nasdaq have said several times that they plan to open trading as usual on Monday.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and exchange officials will discuss the storm's impact and plans for opening trading at the start of the week in a conference call on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m., according to a source familiar with the plan.
After completing additional reviews, the NYSE said Saturday afternoon: "Preparations are complete on our trading floor and in our data centers," in a market status note. The NYSE and Nasdaq will both provide updates Sunday afternoon.
All-electronic Nasdaq Stock Market said in a note to traders early Saturday evening: "NASDAQ OMX is actively monitoring the progression of the hurricane and continues to be in regular contact with other exchanges and regulatory agencies."
The NYSE and the broader U.S. marketplace are mostly automated, quietly running out of powerful data centers in New Jersey and across the country. Barring large-scale power outages, electronic trading is expected to function normally next week.
The trade group representing the bond market, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, also repeated on Saturday that there are no changes to the trading hours for the U.S. bond market on Monday "as of now."
The New York Mercantile Exchange, a few blocks from the NYSE, has "contingency plans in place to ensure the proper functioning of our markets," said parent CME Group Inc (CME.O) on Friday.
Inside its downtown Manhattan building, Big Board staff on Friday were prepping a backup power generator located well above the Wall Street-level trading floor. Extra fuel is in the basement and extra food is in the kitchen.
Utility Consolidated Edison Inc (ED.N) also said on Saturday it does not plan a widespread shutdown of New York City's power ahead of Hurricane Irene, although it may impose precautionary power cuts early on Sunday in low-lying areas of downtown Manhattan, where flooding threats are higher.
Any cut in power lasting through Monday will not impact NYSE trading, spokesman Rich Adamonis said, since the exchange has back-up power generating capabilities to run its trading floor and business operations.
(Writing by Chris Sanders; Additional reporting by Burton Frierson; Editing by Padraic Cassidy)
