U.S. stock trading was shut down on Monday as the New York City area braced for Hurricane Sandy. The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it had canceled all equity trading on all markets. The cancellation may also extend into Tuesday as Sandy bears down on the area.
The move follows an earlier decision by the New York Stock Exchange to close floor trading because of the storm. “It was a judgment decision based on the safety of a lot of market participants, especially as the storm seems to be getting more severe,” Larry Leibowitz, chief operating officer of NYSE Euronext, told
The full-day closing is the first for the New York Stock Exchange since Sept. 17, 1985, when Hurricane Gloria hit the region. The NYSE also closed for a few hours on Jan. 8, 1996, when a blizzard dropped 20 inches on New York City.