Major US stock exchanges expect to reopen today after super-storm Sandy, the worst storm to hit New York in nearly 75 years, shut down trading for two days.
NYSE Euronext said the New York Stock Exchange would open, although it would switch to fully electronic trading if necessary.
Nasdaq OMX's Nasdaq Stock Market will be operating today as well, and BATS Exchanges will also open.
NYSE Euronext chief operating officer Larry Leibowitz said: "We are shooting hard to open tomorrow and fully expect to do so, but lots of firms will have either connectivity problems or other things."
US exchanges, banks, brokers and others conferred for hours yesterday about the feasibility of resuming trade after exchanges closed because of bad weather for the first time in 27 years.
Lower Manhattan, where Wall Street and the NYSE are located, lost power on Monday after being buffeted by Sandy, the worst storm to hit New York since at least 1938.
The NYSE has opened in adverse circumstances in the past, including the Monday after Hurricane Irene in August of last year, and on September 17, 2001, six days after the 9/11 attacks.
Mr Leibowitz said: "Tomorrow will not be without hiccups, but will be good enough that the market will be fine."
Bond markets were also closed yesterday, with traders aiming to reopen today.
When markets do open today, it could come with a burst of volatility after a two-day shutdown.
Undoubtedly some investors will try to game out what sectors and stocks will be helped or hindered by the storm, but the broader economic effect should be limited.
Jeff Tjornehoj, head of Lipper Americas Research, a Thomson Reuters company, said most managers would have handled a lot of their year-end portfolio rejigging earlier in October.
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