trading floor

Trading floors across the country -- which are quiet because trading floors are increasingly empty, and should be more so at the moment because it's summer -- are oddly busy at the moment. Apparently it's all because of the debt ceiling stand-off.
"At Wall Street banks and investment firms, many traders are putting vacation plans on hold so they can be at their desks Aug. 2" the LA Times reports.

"Trading floors Street-wide are unusually well populated for this time of year. You will see very few people on vacation," one trader from Knight Capital told the Times.
But they're not doing much of anything.
Another trader at the NYSE described the situation like this: "We're literally sitting on our hands and just waiting. When you don't know what to do the best thing is to do nothing."
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