Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced during a coronavirus press conference on Tuesday that the stock market may shorten hours due to the outbreak.
“We intend to keep the markets open,” Mnuchin told reporters at a Tuesday press conference with President Trump. “Everybody wants to keep it open … We may get to the point that we shorten the hours.”
Financial markets worldwide have seen sharp declines in recent weeks due to concerns over the economic toll brought by the virus, prompting questions over whether governments would force the closure of their respective markets until the virus subsides to prevent further economic damage. The administration has the authority to close down U.S. markets, if necessary.
Mnuchin stressed that any limiting of hours in the United States would only happen if necessary for safety or security reasons. For the near term, the markets would function normally, the Treasury secretary said. He added that he had been in contact with leaders of the major banks and the New York Stock Exchange itself, and the broad consensus was that the markets needed to remain open.
“Americans should know that we are going to do everything necessary to ensure that they have access to the money at their banks, to the money in their 401(k)s, and to the money in stocks,” Mnuchin said.
The stock markets closed briefly following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, but that was only because markets themselves were directly targeted by the terrorists, Mnuchin noted, and the technology that the markets used was disrupted. The markets were restored as quickly as was possible.
