Updated at 2:20 p.m. ET: Major U.S. stock exchanges plan to open on Wednesday after a monster storm shut down their trading for two days.
NYSE Euronext said in a statement the New York Stock Exchange will open for normal trading operations in coordination with all U.S. equities, bonds, options and derivatives markets.
Trading will commence on the New York Stock Exchange at 9:30 a.m. ET under normal opening procedures, and both the NYSE building and trading floor are fully operational, NYSE Euronext said in a statement.
Hurricane Sandy’s impact had forced U.S. stock markets to close for two days on Monday and Tuesday -- the first weather-related two-day shutdown since the Great Blizzard of 1888.
“We are pleased to be able to return to normal trading tomorrow,” said Duncan Niederauer, CEO of NYSE Euronext.
“Our building and systems were not damaged and our people have been working diligently to ensure that we have a smooth opening tomorrow," he added. “Our thoughts remain with the families and communities suffering in the wake of this terrible natural disaster.”
The Nasdaq Stock Market and other Nasdaq-owned U.S. exchanges and markets will also open for business on Wednesday, according to a statement by the company.
U.S. exchanges, banks, brokers, and others conferred for hours on Tuesday morning about the feasibility of resuming trade.
The southern tip of Manhattan where Wall Street and the NYSE are located lost power on Monday after being buffeted by Sandy, the worst storm to hit New York since at least 1938.
The New York Stock Exchange, which accounts for about a quarter of U.S. stock market trading volume, is testing the possibility of routing all trades through its electronic platform, Chief Operating Officer Larry Leibowitz said in an interview. Under normal conditions it handles about half its volume through its trading floor downtown.
Related: NYSE trading floor no longer vital to markets
The NYSE has backup generators and 40 hours worth of fuel, Leibowitz said.
Bond markets were also closed on Tuesday, with traders aiming to reopen on Wednesday.
JPMorgan Chase & Co, the largest U.S. bank, expects many employees will be able to return to buildings starting on Wednesday, according to an internal memo obtained by Reuters.
Separately, Fidelity Investments told its brokerage customers Tuesday that it expects U.S. markets to open normally on Wednesday.
One of Citigroup's main investment banking buildings at 388 Greenwich Street in Manhattan had minor flooding and is without power, an internal memo said. The building sits by the Hudson River. A smaller Citigroup building by the Hudson River is running on a generator. The bank expects both to be accessible within two days.
Plans to resume trading will be complicated by the lingering effect of the storm on New York. Sandy brought a record storm surge that flooded subway tunnels. The city's subway service is not likely to resume for four to five days, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Tuesday.
If NYSE Euronext's New York Stock Exchange headquarters and trading floor are unavailable on Wednesday, trading in NYSE-listed securities will be executed on the Arca exchange, the exchange operator said in a notice issued to traders late Monday. “We stress that, as of now, there has been no damage to the NYSE Euronext headquarters that would impair trading floor operations," NYSE said in the notice.
The NYSE's headquarters is a few hundred yards up the street from areas of lower Manhattan that have been evacuated.
The NYSE said on Sunday afternoon it planned to close its trading floor and to move all trading to its electronic market.
It backtracked on that idea after traders and regulators expressed concern about moving everything to the all-electronic venue, a plan tested on March 31 but never used live, given the difficulties and low staffing levels due to the storm.
Reuters contributed to this report.
