US financial markets were faced with another day of standstill yesterday after the worst terrorist attack in the country's history destroyed the World Trade Center and damaged the Pentagon.
The New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ Stock Market, which never opened Tuesday, were to be closed for a second day. As a result, trading in US stocks will again be confined to markets elsewhere, especially in Europe. Stock, options and futures markets in Chicago will stay shut as well.
Buying and selling of Treasury bonds and other US debt securities will also happen only in overseas markets. The Bond Market Association, a group that represents domestic dealers, recommended that the market stay closed today.
The US government canceled all commercial airlines flights until at least noon eastern time yesterday and many airports were closed and on heightened security alert.
New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said that Manhattan south of 14th Street would be closed to civilians yesterday.
Skyscrapers throughout the country, such as the Sears Tower in Chicago and the Library Tower in Los Angeles, were evacuated as a precaution. Retailers including May Department Stores Co, owner of chains such as Kaufmann's and Hecht's and Starbucks Corp, closed stores as well.
At the same time, employees at many companies that either completely or partially closed yesterday because of the attack will return to work.
Starbucks, the largest chain of US specialty-coffee stores, shut all 2,900 of its company-owned stores in the US and Canada yesterday. The Seattle-based company doesn't expect "significant financial impact" from the closings, spokeswoman Cheri Libby said.
The moves were in keeping with closings at federal offices throughout Washington, such as the White House, the Capitol and the Supreme Court. The Federal Aviation Administration grounded all planes at US airports for the first time.
Philip Morris Cos decided to close all offices in the New York metropolitan area yesterday after keeping its headquarters in the city open yesterday. "We're just making sure everyone has a place to go," said David Tovar, a spokesman for the largest cigarette maker.
The company also has operations in Parsippany, New Jersey, and in Rye Brook and Tarrytown, New York.
Yesterday's attack took place before the 9:30am opening for US stock markets, where US$90 billion of shares trade on an average day. Commodity and financial futures exchanges in New York and Chicago closed for the day.
Dealers in Asia may be among the first who get a chance to trade Treasury futures.
The Chicago Board of Trade's a/c/e electronic brokerage system for US bond futures, debt derivatives and other securities and commodities said it will probably open for trade at 8pm Chicago time, which will be 10am in Japan.
The a/c/e system handles almost all trading in US bond futures in Asia, though not cash bond transactions, said Nick Bolton, managing director of Chicago Board of Trade's Asia-Pacific office in Sydney.
The Trade Center's twin towers collapsed in the morning.
Another building, 7 World Trade Center, fell in the afternoon. The death toll from the attack, including these disasters, may exceed that of the 1941 surprise raid on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, which killed 2,403 people.
"I am sure I have lost some friends," said Peter Godsoe, chief executive of Bank of Nova Scotia, on a conference call with analysts and investors. The Toronto-based firm's New York office "is a stone's throw away" from the Trade Center, he said.
Some companies stepped up security, including Electronic Data Systems Corp, the second-largest US provider of computer services; Sunoco Inc, the largest oil refiner on the US East Coast; and Texas Instruments Inc, a producer of semiconductors used in cellphones.
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