In a notification posted late on Wednesday, the NYSE said it would initiate its business continuity plan and move, on a temporary basis, to fully electronic trading on Monday, March 23. The decision to temporarily close the trading floors represents a "precautionary step to protect the health and well-being of employees and the floor community in response to COVID-19."

"NYSE's trading floors provide unique value to issuers and investors, but our markets are fully capable of operating in an all-electronic fashion to serve all participants, and we will proceed in that manner until we can re-open our trading floors to our members," said Stacey Cunningham, President of the New York Stock Exchange.

"While we are taking the precautionary step of closing the trading floors, we continue to firmly believe the markets should remain open and accessible to investors. All NYSE markets will continue to operate under normal trading hours despite the closure of the trading floors."