Storm will keep financial markets closed Tuesday
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sand bags protected the front of the New York Stock Exchange today. Hurricane Sandy continued on its path today, forcing the shutdown of mass transit, schools and financial markets, sending coastal residents fleeing, and threatening a dangerous mix of high winds and soaking rain. There had been plans to allow electronic trading to go forward on the New York Stock Exchange but with a storm surge expected to cover parts of lower Manhattan in water, officials decided late Sunday that it was too risky to ask any personnel to staff the exchanges.
Sand bags protected the front of the New York Stock Exchange today. Hurricane Sandy continued on its path today, forcing the shutdown of mass transit, schools and financial markets, sending coastal residents fleeing, and threatening a dangerous mix of high winds and soaking rain. There had been plans to allow electronic trading to go forward on the New York Stock Exchange but with a storm surge expected to cover parts of lower Manhattan in water, officials decided late Sunday that it was too risky to ask any personnel to staff the exchanges.
NEW YORK » Major U.S. stock and bond markets will be closed because of Hurricane Sandy on Tuesday.
It will be the first time since 1888 that the New York Stock Exchange will have been closed for two consecutive days because of bad weather. The cause then was a blizzard that left drifts as high as 40 feet in the streets of New York City.
Much of the East Coast was at a standstill today as the storm approached. Mass transit and schools were closed across the region ahead of the storm hitting land, which was expected to happen later today.
Areas around the Financial District were part of a mandatory evacuation zone. The storm surge is already pushing water over seawalls in the southern tip of Manhattan.
