The following is an excerpt from The Associated Press | October 31, 2012 | cbsnews.com |
Traffic is snarled, streets are flooded, subways are out of commission and power is out in many parts of New York City, but the stock exchange at 11 Wall Street opened trading without hitch Wednesday after an historic two-day shutdown, courtesy of Hurricane Sandy.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg rang the opening bell at 9:30 a.m., right on schedule, then gave a thumbs-up as traders cheered from the iconic trading floor below, falsely rumored to be flooded, but dry Wednesday morning, and festive.
“It’s good for the city, good for country, it’s good for everyone to get back to work,” the mayor told CNBC moments later while leaving the exchange building at 11 Wall Street.
The last time the exchange closed for two consecutive days because of weather was during the Blizzard of 1888 — 124 years ago.
The market were largely flat Wednesday. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 11 points to close at 13,097. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index inched up less than a point to 1,412. The Nasdaq composite shed 11 points to 2,977.
The company that operates the exchange, NYSE Euronext, said the trading floor Wednesday is running on backup generators since power is out in large parts of downtown Manhattan.
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