U.S. financial markets to open after Irene pounds NYC

U.S. stock, bond and commodity markets will be open as usual on Monday after Hurricane Irene left New York with less damage than expected. Irene pounded the New York metropolitan area with furious winds and lashing rain overnight on Sunday and officially landed on the city as a tropical storm, resulting in flooding, downed trees and power outages in some areas. After assessing the damages to facilities and readiness for operation, major exchanges in New York decided to open as usual on Monday, avoiding the first shutdown due to weather since 1985. "This decision follows a detailed review with New York City and other officials of the operational readiness of metro-area safety, power, water, and transportation systems, in addition to a readiness assessment of our own trading and data center facilities, along with consultation with staff members, trading professionals, other exchanges, and regulators," NYSE Euronext said in a statement on Sunday. CME Group also announced to open all electronic and outcry markets on regular schedule, saying all IT systems and trading floors remain operational and will be available to customers and market participants as planned. As the mass transportation had been shut down since Saturday noon and cannot be fully restored on Monday morning, some of the traders spent their weekend in Manhattan hotels, in order to get to the exchange venues on time for the trading. According to Eric Noll, an executive vice president for transaction services at New York-based Nasdaq OMX, Nasdaq and other markets spent a great deal of time getting ready and building emergency disaster recovery-type functionality after the 9/11 terror attacks 10 years ago.