U.S. Stocks to Resume Trading Monday

Sept. 13 -- U.S. stock markets are expected to resume trading on Monday, ending a four-day shutdown that followed destruction of the World Trade Center.

Stock market officials, who made their decision after meetingwith representatives of the city, investment firms and localutilities, said they would test market systems Saturday. If thetest goes well, trading will resume at 9:30 a.m. ET Monday.

Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill today expressed confidence that U.S. stock markets would hold up when they reopen. "There are markets open around the world and they seem to be calm. So I'm feeling pretty good at the moment," he told ABCNEWS.

O'Neill said the terrorist attack on the U.S. financial district hasn't altered his view that the economy is poised for a rebound. In an interview with Peter Jennings, O'Neill said he sees no need to view the economy differently today than he did on Sept. 10, the day before the attack, "even though we view the facts with a heavy heart."

The shutdown of the New York Stock Exchange, the nation'soldest, will have been the longest since a weeklong closing afterthe 1929 crash. About $100 billion worth of trades are conductedevery day in the United States, according to the SecuritiesIndustry Association.

Hundreds of other firms were forced to flee buildings that weredamaged or closed, and many companies are setting up operations atreplacement offices far from Wall Street's narrow alleys.

NYSE Chairman Richard Grasso said no one in the financialindustry suggested that resumption of trading was more importantthan the massive effort to recover "those who are still with usthat are trapped in the wreckage" of the trade center.

Damage to the American Stock Exchange, located in a building not far from the World Trade Center, was so severe that parts of its operations might be temporarily relocated to the NYSE, which remains intact, or to other regional markets, Grasso said.

Bond Trading Begins

Earlier today, treasury bond and commodities futurescontracts resumed trading in abbreviated sessions. Bonds are nottied to a physical site, while most futures trading occurs inChicago.