Pedestrians walk past the New York Stock Exchange as the building opens
for the first time since March while the outbreak of the coronavirus disease
(COVID19) continues in the Manhattan borough of New York, U.S., May 26, 2020.
NYSE reopens trading floor
closed by coronavirus
BY JOHN MCCRANK
REUTERS
The New York Stock Exchange partially
reopened the trading fl oors at
its iconic 11 Wall Street building on
Tuesday for the fi rst time since March 20
when the bourse was forced to go all-electronic
due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Intercontinental Exchange Inc’s
<ICE.N> NYSE fl oor will be different, with
protective masks, strict social distancing
requirements, and just around a quarter
of the people, NYSE Chief Commercial
Offi cer John Tuttle said in an interview.
Still, he says the reopening is meaningful.
“The fl oor represents so much more than
the several tens-of-thousands of square feet it
occupies,” he said. “It’s a symbol of America,
and it’s a symbol of capital markets; it’s a
symbol of the economy and after two months
of the country and essentially the world being
offl ine, we want to lead from the front.”
The NYSE said most of its designated
market makers, who oversee trading in the
exchange’s 2,200 listed companies, will
PHOTO BY REUTERS/LUCAS JACKSON
continue to work from home, as will most
exchange employees. The reopening bell
was rung by Governor Andrew Cuomo.
The 100 or so traders, regulatory, and
operational staff heading into the building,
in a still-largely deserted lower Manhattan,
have been asked to avoid public transportation,
and everyone entering will be
screened for signs of the virus.
The NYSE fl oor is the last physical
U.S. stock trading venue, as a slew of
all-electronic competitors have emerged
and eaten away at the Big Board’s once
dominant market share.
Since the move to electronic-only trading,
there have been no major disruptions,
even with record volumes and volatility,
prompting rivals to say the fl oor, where
stocks have changed hands since 1792,
has no real utility.
The NYSE says recent data show there
was less volatility and tighter bid-ask
spreads for NYSE-listed stocks when
fl oor brokers were present, translating
into millions of dollars a day in savings for
investors.
Editorial
New York must focus on rent crisis
Even as the fi rst seedlings of recovery
start to pop up across New York
City, there’s still no progress made
on helping tenants and landlords who’ve
been largely ignored and left in limbo.
Evictions and foreclosures remain on
hold through mid-August, at least. Nobody’s
being thrown out of their homes
anytime soon.
But the moratorium Governor Andrew
Cuomo imposed back in March isn’t an
actual solution. What happens to the
tenants when, once the moratorium ends,
their landlords come knocking at the door
looking for months of past due rent?
What happens to the smaller landlords
who haven’t been able to afford a loss of
rental income? Will their bank or lending
company be gracious enough to forgive
months of back mortgage payments?
We’ve found a solution, or at least a way
forward, for just about every other facet of
the pandemic except housing costs.
Previously, the governor has said that the
federal government must step in to provide
fi nancial aid to cover rental and mortgage
payments. With regard to rental increases,
Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio have kicked
that football around to the Rent Guidelines
Board, and action is still pending.
With hardline demagogues in Washington
determined to limit help to the states
that don’t support their agenda, it’s proving
to be very diffi cult to secure additional aid
on top of the trillions of dollars in relief
packages already enacted. But the amount
of money already spent on the COVID-19
crisis doesn’t mean their obligation to help
New York has ended.
That being said, New York cannot afford
to wait on the demagogues in the Senate
and the White House. Tenants and landlords
need fi nancial help now.
Last week, Cuomo announced a lending
program for small businesses largely in concert
with local lending institutions. The city and
state should develop a similar action for tenants
and landlords now — even if it means merely
picking up the tab for renters in arrears.
Such a program would serve two purposes.
It takes the fi nancial onus off the back of tenants
while relieving landlords who own three
or fewer buildings in which they let apartments.
These are the landlords most impacted
by the crisis, and if they’re not provided with
assistance, both they and their tenants will
suffer incalculable consequences.
This isn’t throwing money at a problem;
it’s stopping a humanitarian crisis that
would also fi nancially ruin the city.
Publisher of The Villager, Villager Express, Chelsea Now,
Downtown Express and Manhattan Express
PRESIDENT & PUBLISHER
CEO & CO-PUBLISHER
EDITOR IN CHIEF
REPORTERS
CONTRIBUTORS
ART DIRECTORS
ADVERTISING
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES
PUBLISHER’S LIABILITY FOR ERROR
The Publisher shall not be liable for slight changes
or typographical errors that do not lessen the value
of an advertisement. The publisher’s liability for
others errors or omissions in connection with an
advertisement is strictly limited to publication of the
advertisement in any subsequent issue.
Published by Schneps Media
One Metrotech North, 3rd floor
Brooklyn, NY 11201
Phone: (718) 260-2500
Fax: (212) 229-2790
On-line: www.thevillager.com
E-mail: news@thevillager.com
© 2019 Schneps Media
VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS
JOSHUA SCHNEPS
ROBERT POZARYCKI
GABE HERMAN
ALEJANDRA O’CONNELL
MARK HALLUM
MICHELE HERMAN
BOB KRASNER
TEQUILA MINSKY
MARY REINHOLZ
PAUL SCHINDLER
MARCOS RAMOS
CLIFFORD LUSTER
(718) 260-2504
CLUSTER@CNGLOCAL.COM
GAYLE GREENBURG
JIM STEELE
JULIO TUMBACO
ELIZABETH POLLY
Member of the National
Newspaper Association
Member of the
Minority Women Business Enterprise
8 May 28, 2020 Schneps Media
/www.thevillager.com
link
link
/www.thevillager.com
link
link
