The New York Stock Exchange, the symbolic heart of Wall Street, reopened its floor Tuesday after a two-month closure due to the coronavirus, with traders donning masks and separated by plexiglas.
The New York Stock Exchange, the symbolic heart of Wall Street, reopened its floor Tuesday after a two-month closure due to the coronavirus, with traders donning masks and separated by plexiglas.
Stocks surged at the outset of the session following the trademark opening bell, which was presided by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and NYSE officials – all donning masks.
While the NYSE is ramping only gradually, the moment is an important one symbolically for Wall Street and the United States as the country charts its recovery from the Covid-19 crisis.
“The really important thing is to get us down there, to get trading, to be there symbolically,” said longtime trader Peter Tuchman.
“We’re willing to step back into the floor and to be part of the reopening of the economy, and markets and the world.”
The 62-year-old Tuchman of Quattro Securities has been an oft-photographed symbol of NYSE activity in countless newspaper and online articles about the ups and downs of the market.
But Tuchman will not be among the first wave to return to the NYSE because he himself is still recovering from the coronavirus.
“I’m now in recovery mode so I’m through it,” he told AFP. “I do have a lot of unfortunate residual damage from the virus which is a scarring of the lungs, which is why my voice is raspy and which will come back eventually we hope.
