NYSE resets circuit breakers, lowers trigger points

The New York Stock Exchange will lower the breakers and trigger points that cause the market to halt trading for various lengths of time. Under the new conditions, a 900-point drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average before 2:00PM will halt trading for one hour, 1,800 points lost before 1:00PM will shutter the market for two hours, and losing 2,700 points at any time will close the Big Board for the rest of the day. Previous levels were 1,100, 2,150, and 3,250 points, respectively. The levels, which are revised every quarter by the NYSE, went into effect today. From a Reuters report at BusinessWeek Online.