New York Stock Exchange shuts trading floor amid coronavirus, switches to electronic trades

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) will temporarily shut its floor and turn to fully electronic trading in response to the growing coronavirus pandemic.  

NYSE will switch to electronic trading when markets open Monday, the Intercontinental Exchange announced Wednesday.

NYSE markets will continue operating under normal trading hours, and remain open and accessible to investors, NYSE president Stacey Cunningham said. 

Cunningham told CNBC the closures followed the results of positive coronavirus tests for two people who were stopped at the medical screenings NYSE set up last week. 

We will be moving temporarily to fully electronic trading, to begin with Monday’s market openhttps://t.co/2kJOTEZ414

— NYSE (@NYSE) March 18, 2020

“NYSE’s trading floors provide unique value to issuers and investors, but our markets are fully capable of operating in an all-electronic fashion to serve all participants, and we will proceed in that manner until we can re-open our trading floors to our members,” NYSE President Stacey said in the announcement. 

The International Exchange will monitor events to determine the “appropriate time” to re-open the NYSE trading floor. 

The outbreak which originated in China has spread globally, with more than 7,700 cases confirmed in the U.S., according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. 

States across the U.S. have taken measures to close schools, as well as bars and restaurants for dine-in service. 

President Trump on Monday recommended Americans keep social gatherings to groups of less than 10 people.

Stocks closed Wednesday with steep losses as the Dow Jones Industrial Average nearly gave up the entirety of its historic rally that followed President Trump’s January 2017 inauguration.