The New York Stock Exchange’s famously hectic trading floor was dead quiet this morning as it opened for the first time in its history without traders.
The exchange decided to move all-electronic trading late last week despite NYSE President Stacey Cunningham’s best efforts to keep it open with strict safety precautions in place. Those measures included daily deep-cleans and temperature checks for traders at the door.
“The fact that we have people applying human judgment to trading helps dampen volatility, and we're in an exceptionally volatile period of time,” Cunningham told Cheddar last week.
While the broader impact on markets will take time to determine, in the short-term the move has sparked fear in some brokers about the future of traders, who have already seen their roles shrink over the years as electronic and algorithmic trading have grown.
In terms of day-to-day operations, the situation puts limits on the kinds of trading that can take place while brokers do their work from home.
“There’s only a certain amount of clients that we can trade for off the floor, and there’s a good portion of our clients that we are only allowed to trade for when we’re on the floor,” Jonathan Corpina, a trader for Meridian Equity Partners, told Cheddar.
The firm’s broker-to-broker business, for instance, is essentially shut down until it can return to the floor.
The coronavirus has further complicated the shut down because remote trading sites in Connecticut and New Jersey are also closed, as a widespread quarantine takes hold across the region.
“We have a business continuity plan that’s in place, and we do run satellite offices on a day-in and day-out basis, but not having access to those offices made us change our plans completely over the last week,” Corpina said.
Meridian Equity Partners spent the weekend prepping brokers to work remotely, making sure phones and other technology needs were up to the task.
“So far today everything has been working as planned,” he said.
Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global, breaks down September’s CPI print and inflation trends, explaining what it means for markets.
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
The stunning indictment that led to the arrest of more than 30 people — including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and other NBA figures — has drawn new scrutiny of the booming business of sports betting in the U.S. The multibillion-dollar industry has made it easy for sports fans — and even some players — to wager on everything from the outcome of games to that of a single play with just a few taps of a cellphone. But regulating the rapidly-growing industry has proven to be a challenge. Professional sports leagues’ own role in promoting gambling has also raised eyebrows.
Tesla, the car company run by Elon Musk, reported Wednesday that it sold more vehicles in the past three months after boycotts hit hard earlier this year, but profits still fell sharply. Third-quarter earnings fell to $1.4 billion, from $2.2 billion a year earlier. Excluding charges, per share profit of 50 cents came in below analysts' estimate. Tesla shares fell 3.5% in after-hours trading. Musk said the company's robotaxi service, which is available in Austin, Texas, and San Francisco, will roll out to as many as 10 other metro areas by the end of the year.
