Hurricane Sandy darkens U.S. markets for first time since 9/11

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Here’s some perspective on Hurricane Sandy shutting down U.S. equity trading: It hasn’t happened for an entire day since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The 9/11 attacks shuttered the markets for four days, according to a timeline on the New York Stock Exchange website. The last time a weather event closed U.S. exchanges was in September 1985, when Hurricane Gloria hit New England.

Lenexa-based BATS Global Markets, which launched its first U.S. equities exchange in October 2008, joined NYSE and Nasdaq in closing Monday. The inclement weather also prompted several companies to delay financial reports, including Overland Park-based Waddell & Reed Financial Inc. (NYSE: WDR), which pushed its report from Tuesday to Wednesday. (See below for more coverage about how Hurricane Sandy is affecting Kansas City-area businesses.) But the New York Stock Exchange hasn’t closed much since its formation in 1817.

The longest closing came at the outset of World War I, when worldwide exchanges suspended operations, and the NYSE closed for four-and-a-half months. Other war-related closings came in August 1945 to celebrate the end of World War II and in 1861 at the outbreak of the Civil War, when trading of securities from seceding states was suspended. The exchange closed twice for presidential assassinations: in 1865 for Abraham Lincoln and in 1963 for John Kennedy. The NYSE closed for 10 days in 1873 due to financial panic when Jay Cooke & Co., a banking firm based in Philadelphia, failed due to heavy speculation in railroad stocks. It’s also interesting to note a couple of events that didn’t close the stock markets

(bizjournals)

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