No U.S. trading Thursday

September 12, 2001: 6:12 p.m. ET

But NYSE, Nasdaq plan open by Monday at the latest
By Staff Writer Jake Ulick

NEW YORK (CNNfn) - U.S. stock markets will stay shuttered for a third day Thursday and may not reopen until Monday.

Officials from the major stock markets and the government said trading could resume as early as Friday. The terrorist attack that destroyed New York's World Trade Center has already forced the longest trading suspension since the Great Depression.

Officials told a Manhattan press conference that they tried to balance the human toll against the need to shore up investor confidence.

"Let us not forget the great tragedy that has befallen this nation," said Richard Grasso, chairman and CEO of the New York Stock Exchange, who also talked about the need to "restore the public confidence that this marketplace will be up and functioning."

Trading of Treasury securities resumes Thursday.


	New York firefighters work to recover victims

Officials had delayed the announcement, which was originally scheduled for 3 p.m. ET, as they hashed out safety issues, practical matters such as infrastructure and electricity, and the ongoing task of recovering victims from the World Trade Center site near Wall Street.

Grasso was joined by Hardwick Simmons, chief executive officer of the Nasdaq, Harvey L. Pitt, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and Peter Fisher, undersecretary at the U.S. Treasury Department.

They spoke at Bear Stearns, one of the Manhattan brokerages far enough from the downtown financial district to be open to non-emergency personnel.

The resumption of trading is both practical and symbolic. In crashing into the World Trade Center, the hijacked planes destroyed the highest point in New York's financial district and an icon of Wall Street. Even as the death toll grows, many in the financial community wanted to return to work as a signal that terrorism has not deterred business.

That will happen "by Friday and no later than Monday," Nasdaq's

Simmons said.

The markets hadn't been closed for two days since Aug. 16 and 17, 1945, in honor of VJ Day. This will be the longest closing since markets were shuttered for seven days in March 1933, during the Great Depression.

In the decision, geography was a deterrent. The NYSE is located within the area closed to non-emergency workers, who are searching for victims. The Nasdaq, electronically traded, is not dependent on personal interaction. That's also the case with trading Treasury securities.

The market never opened Tuesday after two hijacked planes destroyed the 110-story twin towers and another hit the Pentagon near Washington.

Earlier Wednesday, New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani told a press conference that he is committed to helping reopen the stock markets, an important part of the city's economy.

The securities business generates more than $100 billion worth of trades every day, according to the Securities Industry Association.

In Washington, the government remained open following the attack that hit the Pentagon. But that act caused far less damage and congestion and fewer fatalities.

In the short term, many analysts expect the catastrophe to hurt stocks, which are already suffering amid the worst profits slowdown in a decade. But in one sign of stability, overseas markets Wednesday recovered some of Tuesday's big losses.

The attack, according to some watchers of the Federal Reserve, increased the chances of an interest-rate cut before the Fed's next meeting in October.

Whenever U.S. stocks open, they'll begin the session at depressed levels. On Monday, the Standard & Poor's 500 index closed down more than 17.2 percent on the year, while the Nasdaq is 31 percent lower in 2001. Blue chips have held up a little better. The Dow industrials are off 11 percent this year.