NYSE, Nasdaq to reopen Wednesday

The streets surrounding the New York Stock Exchange are deserted as financial markets remain closed for the second day due to superstorm Sandy, Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012. NYSE and the Nasdaq exchange announced they will reopen Wednesday. AP/RICHARD DREW

NEW YORK—The New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq exchange announced they will reopen Wednesday after Hurricane Sandy forced a two-day shutdown, the markets’ first closure since the 9/11 attacks of 2001.

“We are pleased to be able to return to normal trading tomorrow,” said NYSE Euronext chief executive Duncan Niederauer. “Our building and systems were not damaged and our people have been working diligently to ensure that we have a smooth opening tomorrow.”

Niederauer said trading will start as usual at 9:30 a.m., with the NYSE Euronext building and trading floor “fully operational” despite the flooding and power outages that have shut down much of the country’s financial capital New York.

Nasdaq OMX, which operates the fully electronic Nasdaq exchange and other futures and options markets, said they would also reopen at normal hours on Wednesday.

US financial markets were almost all closed Monday and Tuesday as the mega-storm bore down on the US East Coast, shutting down New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington.

It was the first closure of the markets since 9/11 and the first weather-related closure since September 1985 when Hurricane Gloria closed the NYSE for one day.