Traders Sneeze, Peso Catches Cold—or Flu

Mexico City brokerages suffer under swine flu
By A Ali,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 30, 2009 11:49 AM CDT
Traders Sneeze, Peso Catches Cold—or Flu
Traders are seen on the floor of the Mexican stock exchange, Bolsa de Valores. Stock and currency traders are working in fear of getting swine flu from colleagues.   (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Peso trading is taking a hit as Mexico City brokerages, wary of spreading the flu, send home anyone who so much as sneezes, Bloomberg reports. Face masks litter the floor at one brokerage, whose daily trading volume is down 30%, as traders furiously scrub their desks in an attempt to kill germs. "You sneeze, you go home,” says one trader.

“We can’t really do anything about it because we’re stuck in here,” says another trader whose firm has a slightly less draconian sneeze policy. "Everyone wants to be at home," notes another. The peso normally trades at a rate of $15 billion a day, but two Mexico City firms report a 30% dropoff as a consequence of anti-virus activities. (More Mexico stories.)

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