New York Stock Exchange to Close Trading Floor Monday

Updated from 2:20 p.m. EDT with news that the New York Stock Exchange will close its physical trading floor Monday.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The New York Stock Exchange says it will close its physical trading floor Monday in accordance with emergency actions by government officials as Hurricane Sandy looms.

This will be the first time in 27 years that the NYSE, a unit of NYSE Euronext (NYX) will close the trading floor because of weather. Trading was suspended on Friday, Sept. 27, 1985 as Hurricane Gloria battered the East Coast.

Earlier Sunday, NYSE representatives had said the exchange would be open for business as usual Monday, but they later reversed course.

> > Bull or Bear? Vote in Our Poll

Both the trading floor and the stock exchange building in lower Manhattan will be closed, although the NYSE is invoking contingency plans to trade all NYSE-listed securities on NYSE Arca, an electronic exchange.

NYSE said the reopening of the trading floor is subject to "to city and state determinations and local conditions."

"We are open for business and at the same time acting in accordance with actions taken by the city and state of New York," said Duncan L. Niederauer, CEO of NYSE Euronext, in a news release. "We have been in discussions with government officials and regulators, our trading floor community, issuers and other customers."

Both the city and state have declared a state of emergency as the hurricane rolls up the Atlantic, and the city has ordered the evacuation of low-lying areas. Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Transit Authority has decided to shut down the city's subway, commuter trains and buses Sunday night for an as-yet undetermined period.

Experts fear Hurricane Sandy could pack an unusually strong punch because it is expected to combine with a cold front and a winter storm, the AP noted.

This article was written by a staff member of TheStreet.