New York Mercantile Exchange plans to open Monday

NEW YORK: The New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) plans to open for trade on Monday, including the open outcry pits at the commodity trading hub in lower Manhattan, a spokesman for parent company CME Group said on Sunday.

"At this time, CME Group plans to open all electronic, open outcry and CME ClearPort markets per each product's regular schedule," the spokesman said in an email to Reuters.

The NYMEX building sits by the Hudson River in New York City's evacuation zone. Hurricane Irene was downgraded to a tropical storm as it made landfall in New York on Sunday morning.

New York power utility Consolidated Edison said on Sunday it has not made a final decision on whether to cut power to Lower Manhattan due to storm surges but flooding in the area appeared less severe than some forecasters had expected.

Copyright Reuters, 2011