New York (AFP)
The Wall Street Stock Exchange operated by the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) announced Thursday that it would partially reopen the doors of its famous parquet on May 26, which it had closed as a precaution in the face of the pandemic.
Only a part of the brokers who were still working on the spot before the exchanges went entirely to electronics on March 23 will initially be able to return, said NYSE manager Stacey Cunningham in a column published in the Wall Street Journal.
"In two months, we have learned a lot and are ready to reopen the prosecution with new vital security measures," she said.
"We do not know when America will resume normal operations. The virus will remain a stubborn reality, but we cannot keep the country closed indefinitely," said the official.
The floor will not resemble the mythical images of agitated brokers, shouting their joy or their disappointment as the stock market fluctuations fluctuate, warned Ms. Cunningham.
They will be masked and must respect the safety distances. And they will be asked to avoid taking public transport.
The NYSE parquet floor remains, with the Chicago Stock Exchange of the CME, among the last financial markets in the world where brokers are physically present to buy or sell assets.
The latter are however much less numerous than in the heyday of the frenzied activity of Wall Street, the vast majority of trade now being done from the computers of the trading rooms of each financial company.
© 2020 AFP