Wall Street will reopen for stock trading as planned Monday, after last Tuesday's terror attack on the World Trade Center forced a four-day shutdown.
The New York Stock Exchange ran tests Saturday of its computer and communications systems. Chairman Richard Grasso says most investment firms are now able to link with the exchange. He expects that by Monday everyone doing business with Wall Street will be connected to some extent, including those companies that sustained huge amounts of damage and losses in the attack.
Major brokerages that had offices in the World Trade Center relocated and switched to back-up systems. Saturday's preliminary tests apparently affirm that companies can move data easily from the back-up systems to the primary trading operation.
And New York officials confirm that almost all phone service to the financial district in lower Manhattan has been restored. Tuesday's attack had knocked out a local telephone switching mechanism.
The New York Stock Exchange, just a few blocks away from the trade center, was not physically damaged in the attack. Neither was the Nasdaq market, which is electronically-based.
NYSE chairman Grasso says Monday's reopening will undoubtedly be a solemn affair.