New York Stock Exchange To Shift To All-Electronic Trading

The New York Stock Exchange says it will temporarily shift to all-electronic trading starting Monday to protect its employees. The announcement came after the market closed for the day.

"The decision to temporarily close the trading floors represents a precautionary step to protect the health and well-being of employees and the floor community in response to COVID-19," the NYSE said in a statement Wednesday.

"Our markets are fully capable of operating in an all-electronic fashion to serve all participants, and we will proceed in that manner until we can re-open our trading floors to our members," NYSE President Stacey Cunningham said. She added that all NYSE markets "will continue to operate under normal trading hours despite the closure of the trading floors."

The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted more than 1,334 points, or 6.3%, on Wednesday.