Despite Blast, Traders Keep on Trading

Commodity exchanges in the shadow of the wounded World Trade Center towers traded on shortened schedules Wednesday, but operations were generally problem-free despite last week’s bomb explosion.

Luck played a key role in the smooth operation: The markets--particularly petroleum products and precious metals--have had little volatility this week, and the lack of turbulence made it easier on the exchanges, traders and analysts said.

There are five major commodities markets inside the nine-story building called Four World Trade Center: the New York Mercantile Exchange, Commodity Exchange Inc., Coffee, Sugar & Cocoa Exchange Inc., New York Cotton Exchange and New York Futures Exchange.

The exchanges share a divided eighth-floor trading area in the building, which was not damaged by the blast. But air conditioning was knocked out for a shared computer that posts prices on electronic boards and distributes them worldwide.

As a result, the exchanges chose to run on shortened schedules this week so that the computers would not be in danger of overheating and failing.