NEW YORK - The New York Stock Exchange floor is reopening next Tuesday, with a series of new safety measures in place.
The trading floor will look very different than it had been before shutting down on March 23.
To get in the building, temperature checks will be required, and only 25% of usual capacity will be inside. A social distancing policy will be enforced, and face masks will be required.
No one is allowed to take public transportation to get to the famed building.
Michael Blaugrund, the chief operating officer of the NYSE, said a decision was made to respect the governor's PAUSE order and to reserve public transportation capacity for front line workers.
"We are going to remove the density that we would introduce into that situation by using other methods. But we have been in contact with the MTA, and they are doing extraordinary work to ensure that the public will be safe, so as soon as the governor's order is lifted, or employees and other floor personnel will begin using the MTA,” Blaugrund said.
He also said a decision to reopen was largely made to get floor brokers back to work. The traders are key to the NYSE business model which it says saves investors money on trades.
Many of them are small brokerage firms which might not survive a prolonged floor closure. They have mostly been unable to work because the devices they use are only available inside the building.
"For them, even though the stock exchange was open and we were functioning fully electronically very smoothly, they were unable to operate their businesses. And just like restaurants and other small businesses are eager to reopen, that floor broker community is very excited for the floor to open next week,” said Blaugrund.
While there’s typically a lot of pageantry for opening bell ceremonies, Blaugrund is remaining mum about the details for Tuesday. He said the bell ringer is a still a secret.