U.S. Stock Markets Remain Closed, New Contingency Plan on Cards

Hurricane Sandy left nothing behind, not even the Stock markets in this era of widespread electronic trading. The stock markets in the United States decided to remain closed on Tuesday in the aftermath of the deadly hurricane.

According to a the New York Times, the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq stock market and BATS Global Markets have all released separate statements agreeing to close, after consulting with other exchanges and clients. The stoppage is the first time since 1888 that the markets have been closed for consecutive days because of weather.

Meanwhile, the stock exchange operators are looking for a contingency plan to ensure domestic equity trading restarts this week. The symbol of American economic, NYSE dismissed reports that its headquarters in lower Manhattan had been affected by flooding; however, said it has a backup plan should the building and its storied trading floor suffer "irreparable damage." "We stress that, as of now, there has been no damage to the NYSE Euronext NYC headquarters that would impair trading floor operations," exchange officials said in a notice to traders.

NYSE, the face of the stock market for most Americans, has a physical trading floor (only one in the country) in lower Manhattan through which nearly 12 percent of all U.S. trades go through. It has a separate electronic exchange known as Arca which handles nearly 12 percent or so of all buy and sell orders in the country. NASDAQ is an electronic market with no physical trading room and it accommodates 22 percent of U.S. trades.

The new understanding from the stock market operators would reportedly see Arca platform handle critical opening and closing auctions during the Hurricane.

"NYSE Arca should be considered the primary market in this scenario," a notice from exchange officials said.

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) has recommended that the U.S. bond market to remain closed on Oct. 30 due to Hurricane Sandy.