New York Stock Exchange reopens two months after closing due to Covid-19

The New York Stock Exchange’s famous Wall Street trading floor opened on Tuesday for the first time in more than two months, having closed in March due to the spread of Covid-19.

Governor Andrew Cuomo rang the opening bell while wearing a face mask, signaling that while New York state may be starting to open up, things will be far from normal for some time yet.

“Today I ring in the start of the trading day and the return of traders to the floor of the NYSE,” Cuomo wrote on Twitter. “In the two months the floor was dark, NYers bent the curve and slowed the spread of the virus.”

According to researchers at Johns Hopkins University, New York is the worst-hit US state by far, with more than 362,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and around 23,500 deaths. Cuomo later reported 73 deaths in the state on Monday, a continued decline, and detailed reopening plans for Long Island and the mid-Hudson region.

The Intercontinental Exchange, which runs the NYSE, closed its trading floor in downtown New York City on 23 March, saying all trading would be done electronically. The exchange took precautions while the trading floor was still open, such as testing employees and screening temperatures of anyone who came into the building, but two employees tested positive for Covid-19.

The NYSE now says it has consulted with public health and elected officials to develop a protocol that will allow the floor to be open with precautionary measures.

“The virus will remain a stubborn reality but we can’t keep the country closed indefinitely,” wrote Stacey Cunningham, president of the NYSE, in a column for the Wall Street Journal this month.

“Given that, our reopening will bring a ‘new normal’ for the NYSE, hopefully helping chart a path that other businesses in densely populated areas might follow.”

Most employees will continue to work remotely. The small group of traders who are allowed to return will be required to wear face masks and practice social distancing. Anyone entering the building must be screened and undergo a temperature check.

Traders must also sign a waiver that acknowledges being on the floor puts them at risk of “contracting Covid-19, respiratory failure, death and transmitting Covid-19 to family or household members and others who may also suffer these effects”, the Journal reported.

The paper also said Intercontinental Exchange had asked firms, including major banks, who employ traders on the floor to agree to provide compensation if any lawsuits arise.

Traders on the floor must also avoid taking public transportation, a ban that has proved controversial.

Transportation news site Streetsblog said the policy was a sign of a potential “carpocalypse” – a rapid rise in cars driving into Manhattan as commuters attempt to avoid public transportation in the wake of the virus.

Margaret Chin, a city council member, wrote to New York mayor Bill de Blasio, outlining “deep concerns about the precedent [the ban] sets for other companies who are eager to reopen”.