The New York Stock Exchange has been working closely with officials and regulators who all support keeping its floor open to help dampen the market's volatility at this period of time, and steps are being taken to keep them safe from coronavirus, NYSE President Stacey Cunningham said Wednesday.
"People on the floor want to provide the value that they do to investors every single day," Cunningham told Fox Business. "They want to come in, but we've taken precautions to protect them and their communities."
Social distancing has been in play on the floor so that there are not so many people close together, and several measures are being taken to try to keep trades safe, said Cunningham.
"We sent hundreds home to work remotely," said Cunningham, and many traders are joining up for teams, so they are covering for each other to keep the numbers of people on the floor lower.
Also, anyone coming into the Stock Exchange 's building is screened on the way in for symptoms, and are asked to leave until they are tested for COVID-19, and are not allowed in while they wait for their test results.
Meanwhile, the markets must remain open, said Cunningham, even if the floor is shut down temporarily.
"Closing the markets is a very different thing than closing the floor," she said. "We feel strongly markets need to remain open, and that is a view shared by the administration, shared by our regulators, and by industry more broadly...closing the market one does not stop the market's anxiety."
Also, people must be able to have access to their money, said Cunningham.
"We are not a country that is going to say you just can't have access anymore because we don't like the way markets are moving," she said. "People should be focused on the long term. We will get through this. The markets will recover if we step back."
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