New York governor rings opening bell as Stock Exchange reopens

'They didn’t reopen the way it was ... They reopened smarter'

(New York Stock Exchange via AP Images)

After two months standing empty, the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange reopened on Tuesday morning in a largely symbolic step towards economic recovery.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo rang the bell to set off trading.

“They didn’t reopen the way it was,” he said during his daily briefing. “They reopened smarter.”

Despite no clear end in sight to the coronavirus pandemic, and new spikes in cases in parts of the US and in countries around the world, stocks still surged at the opening bell.

Changes have been made to the NYSE trading floor on Wall Street. There are now plexiglass barriers, and a much reduced number of traders in face masks can be seen adhering to the six foot social distancing rules.

Those entering the NYSE will have their temperatures taken and were asked to avoid public transportation.

As recently as the 1990s, several thousand brokers and others used to crowd the trading floor of the NYSE, but the rise in electronic trading saw that number dwindle to approximately 500 floor traders.

At market close the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 2.17 per cent and the S&P 500 was up 1.23 per cent.

Today’s rally is set against a backdrop of low, but stabilising, consumer confidence in the US, and unemployment levels last seen in the Great Depression. More than 38 million people have filed for unemployment since the pandemic hit the US.

Governor Cuomo reported that all regions of the state, with the exception of New York City, had reached a point at which they could move to stage one of the process of reopening sectors of the economy.

It is thought the city might be eligible to move to phase one of the reopening process in early June.

With reporting from the Associated Press