NYSE to shut floor, trade electronically

NYSE to shut floor, trade electronically

new york

The New York Stock Exchange and the NYMEX are shutting their trading floors in New York today as Hurricane Sandy bears down on the Big Apple.

But trading will continue electronically on both exchanges.

NYSE Euronext said Sunday it is putting in place its contingency plans beginning today and will announce later when the trading floor will reopen.

The New York Mercantile Exchange, a commodity futures exchange, also today will be shutting its trading floor, which is located in a mandatory evacuation zone. The CME Group, which owns NYMEX, said all electronic markets will open at their regularly scheduled times.

Sandy grounds thousands of flights

new york

Airlines hastily canceled flights in the Northeast on Sunday as Hurricane Sandy moved up the coast. The massive storm threatens to bring a near halt to air travel for at least two days in a key region for both domestic and international flights.

Major carriers such as American Airlines, JetBlue and Delta planned Sunday night to cancel all flights into and out of three area airports in New York, the nation’s busiest airspace. Delays rippled across the U.S. and the Atlantic.

Cancellations are rising. According to the flight- tracking service Flight-Aware, more than 6,800 flights had been canceled for Sunday and today as of Sunday evening.

Germany: No to new Greek debt haircut

berlin

Germany’s finance minister has dismissed the idea of governments and other public creditors taking a hit on their Greek debt holdings, arguing that it wouldn’t be legally feasible.

However, Wolfgang Schaeuble said in an interview with Deutschlandfunk radio broadcast Sunday that a debt buyback program — under which Greece would get loans that would allow it to pay off debts — might be possible. Greece is pushing for a two-year extension of the 2014 deadline to meet the terms of its bailout program.

Private creditors agreed earlier this year to take a so-called haircut, or restructuring, on their Greek debt holdings — accepting a 53.5 percent loss on the face value of bonds.

Magazine publisher is facing charges

athens, greece

Police have arrested the publisher of a magazine that printed what is it says is a list of more than 2,000 Greek depositors at an HSBC bank in Switzerland.

Costas Vaxevanis, the publisher of Hot Doc magazine, will face a court hearing today, charged with the misdemeanor of violating laws regarding personal data, police said.

Information on 24,000 HSBC customers with Swiss accounts were stolen that year, the British bank has said, potentially exposing many international clients to prosecution by tax authorities, if they failed to declare the assets in their home countries.

Associated Press

Selected local stocks

STOCK, DIVIDENDCLOSECHANGE

Aqua America, .66, 25.24 .04

Avalon Holdings,3.89.17

Clear Channel, .73 72.17 —.16

Cortland Bancorp, 9.65.00

Farmers Nat., .125.98 —.18

First Energy, 2.20, 45.64—.25

FirstMerit Corp., .64,13.83 —.30

First Niles Financial, .32,6.85.00

First Place Fin., .79.06

FNB Corp., .48,10.69—.11

General Motors,23.29—.34

General Electric, .68,21.12—.14

Motors Liquidation, .0422.00

Huntington Bank, .16, 6.33.01

JP Morgan Chase, 1.20,41.16—.51

Key Corp, .20,8.39—.14

LaFarge, 14.61 .08

Macy’s, .80, 38.47—.21

Parker Hannifin, 1.64, 77.60.02

PNC, 1.60,57.78—.66

RTI Intl. Metals,23.18—1.13

Simon Prop. Grp.,4.20,150.32—1.14

Stoneridge 4.98 .07

United Community Fin. 3.80.01

Selected prices at 4 p.m. Friday. Provided by Stifel Nicolaus. Not to be construed as an offer or recommendation to buy or sell any security.