Delayed-Opening Industry Test to be Held on 7 June, 2008

By: Ray Pellecchia

File Under: NYSE, NYSE Arca

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Photograph by Tom Doyle, via Cornwall-on-Hudson.com

This morning's post is about a relatively mundane subject, so I thought I'd include the above photograph to lift the heart a bit on a Monday morning. The local paper in my town (cleverly called the Cornwall Local) has taken to posting readers' photographs online, and this one is an incredible beauty that I couldn't resist. It was photographed Saturday morning, following overnight rain, as the sun lifted veils of mist from our area. I think the editor captured it quite well:

Tom Doyle's photo of the boathouse on Constitution [Island] calls to mind the magnificent fog-covered woods of the Hudson Valley captured by famed landscape painter Thomas Cole.

Hope you enjoy it. Now onto business.

In case you didn't see it, our Trader Updates page has posted a notice of an industry-wide test of procedures for planned, delayed market openings. Registration for the 7 June test is requested by 2 June. Excerpt:

The NYSE plans to participate in an industry-wide test of Delayed Opening procedures under the auspices of SIFMA on Saturday, June 7. The purpose of the test is to assure that in the event of a planned, delayed opening, markets are able to open smoothly and efficiently. Registration is required for participation in this test as only registered firm lines will be started.
Member Firm Registration Form

The NYSE will bring its systems up on Saturday, June 7, at 8:00 am, Eastern Time, with a 10:30 am open and a close at 11:30 am. For firms that will also be testing from BCP alternate sites, we recommend that you switch back to primary sites after the test. NYSE will be available for connectivity testing from 1:00 pm thru 3:00 pm for proving primary site connectivity for those firms that wish to validate normalization. The market will be closed during this period. Orders entered by firms will reject with a “market closed reject,” which will prove connectivity.

We will notify firms at a later date which securities will be used on June 7. We will use the last sales and open order files for the selected securities from the close of business on Friday, June 6, 2008. Please note that you will receive only executions, UR Outs, etc., on these securities. If you enter orders in symbols other than the test securities, the orders will not reject; nor will you receive an execution of the order.

CTS/CQS will be open during the test. NYSE will transmit market data information (quotes and trades) to firms with SFTI connections for market data information. If you do not connect directly to the Exchange for this information, please check with your vendor on availability.

BBSS and Floor Broker Handhelds will not be in operation during the day of the test. Since only a couple of stocks will be traded, the NYSE urges firms to send only a small order flow prior to the open and then again after the open. This is not a capacity test.

To provide the most realistic environment for the test, the NYSE is not using a separate test environment. We will use the systems you use every day to route order flow to the NYSE. Therefore, any residual test data left in the lines after the test is completed will be purged.

NOTE: For those firms wishing to participate in the June 7 test from both their primary and back-up sites, we will be offering a May 3 test of connectivity from 8:30 am to 10:30 am. Like the post-test period on June 7, orders entered by firms will reject with a “market closed reject,” which will prove connectivity.

Whether or not you participate in the test, we advise all member firms not to allow messages/orders, etc., to be queued over the weekend in CCG or CMS for Monday morning.

Speaking of the market being closed for unusual reasons:

Today in NYSE History
14 April 1945 -- The NYSE was closed for the National Day of Mourning for President Franklin D. Roosevelt.