This is beginning to annoy me. CME just announced they're using Friday's settlement numbers for Tuesday as well. What if the markets can't open in time on Wednesday either? Are we gonna go through the end of the month with these bullshit marks? What am I going to tell my investors? This is frustrating as hell. I can't believe the various exchanges supposedly invested in redundancy after the 9/11 attacks... to have everything shut down by a perfectly predictable storm. I realize it's a horrible storm and some people can't make it to work... so WHAT? The markets shouldn't shut down for this.
Would it be better to have another flash crash scenario with parts of the infrastructure failing and no human beings being there to support it? I am sure the exchanges didn't make the call to close lightly, they are losing alot of revenue on this. Take the extra days off and relax. More important things in life then making money for your investors.
The two choices shouldn't be: - shut down, - have another flash crash. The alternative choice to shut down should be a functioning electronic marketplace. What if some macro event occurs tomorrow..? What if Spain suddenly defaults, and there are no functioning markets for anyone to participate in, no way for the market to take on its proper roles of risk transfer + price discovery? Clearly at some point in the past, we couldn't function without the physical participation of specialists. But we sure as heck should be past that point now, by 2012. That was the commitment (implicit and explicit) after 9/11. And if we still aren't ready... will we ever be ready? Are the CME + exchanges ever going to get it right?
I was referring to support personnel. I believe that was the main reason the exchanges shut down. We are talking about a natural disaster not financial default, clearly you can see the difference? Even an electronic marketplace needs support staff to ensure operational integrity. This isnt good for my business either but if the exchanges decided to forgo revenue as to not put peoples lives in danger i am sure they have exhausted all alternatives. Apparently we are not at the point where human capital is obsolete.
That's kind of the point, yes? I'm saying the exchange has failed in making the financial markets redundant enough to survive (at least temporarily) without human capital. And yes, that IS a failure. I wasn't trying to draw an analogy to Spanish default. I'm saying that we (6.3 billion people around the planet earth) *need* the financial markets. It needs to be here, and available. It's not about a few day-traders scalping ES points: these markets serve a critical purpose. If this nuclear plant in New Jersey blows, and/or if Spain defaults tomorrow, society as a whole suffers from not having functioning capital markets that can be used for price discovery and price transfer. This gives me zero confidence that in the aftermath of another truly unexpected 9/11 type event, that the exchanges would behave any better than it did the last time around.
The issues are not the exchanges. The issues are the front and back offices of all the brokerage firms that need employees to safely get to and from work at a time when transportation, roads and bridges are closed. 1245
Why is it a failure? Perhaps that is the intent. What happens when the matching engine goes haywire and no one is there on the other end of the phone to resolve your issues? A case in point - FB on IPO day. Imagine the mess if that occurred on a larger scale. I am all for functioning markets 24/7 but i simply do not believe we have the technology to support it just yet. Which means that another 9/11 type event will likely cripple the market yet again. Not sure how that is the exchanges' fault unless you are saying they are intentionally slowing progress down to keep human beings employed?