The New York Stock Exchange and New York Mercantile Exchange canceled floor trading Monday as Hurricane Sandy barreled toward New York City with the threat of a 10-foot storm surge and 70 mile-per-hour winds.
Workers stacked sandbags in Lower Manhattan while banks and brokerages tested contingency plans and prepared to operate with skeleton crews. Governor Andrew Cuomo’s order that subway, bus and commuter rail services be closed as of 7 p.m. left many of the city’s securities industry employees wondering how they would make it to work.
'We have enough people who live in Manhattan proper to have some staff and some people are staying in hotels', said Dan McMahon, director of equity trading at Raymond James Financial Inc. in New York. 'It doesn’t make any sense given Governor Cuomo’s announcement that we encourage people to come in to the city'.
Around Lower Manhattan Sunday, cranes laid concrete barricades at Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s headquarters at 200 West Street. Sandbags were piled along garages and doors at Four World Financial Center, the offices of Bank of America Corp., and lined the sidewalk facing the river outside the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. and Nymex.
Hit the link below to access the complete Bloomberg article:
Exchanges Close Trading Floors as Hurricane Sandy Nears
Goldman Sachs Will Stay Open With Help From Offices Outside NYC
JPMorgan Waives Some Fees for Customers Affected by Hurricane
image: © Andrea_44
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