Suspend stock market trading indefinitely?

Great Debates
1

There is a global panic in stock markets around the world


FTSE 100      4034.49   -279.31     -6.47%
Dax           4487.83   -399.17     -8.17%
Cac 40        3173.85   -268.85     -7.81%
Dow Jones     8579.19   -678.91     -7.33%
Nasdaq        1645.12    -95.21     -5.47%

In response to this:

Given the panic selloffs, is the move by the Russian regulators a smart move? If it is isolated to Russia, what effect will it have?

What if all stock markets throughout the globe were forced to suspend trading until people chill the fuck out and get out of this panic mode?

It is extremely unlikely, if not impossible, but, for the sake of argument, if it were to happen, would it have any benefits?

Suspend trading for, say, a few months, until the governments find the time to implement their rescue plans (e.g. the $700 billion rescue plan in the US). Not only will the plans have time to work, people will have some time to stop panicking and selling off everything in a vicious cycle of panic->sell->huge drop->panic->sell->huge drop-…

Assume all the normal financial transactions (like lending, banking, etc) continue, but no trading of stocks is allowed. The economy does not need stock trading to function AFAIK (at least in the short term). The stocks get sold by the company once, which provides the company with some money, and the shareholders a percentage of the company, but after that, most trading has little to no effect on the day-to-day activities of the company. So, if trading is halted for a few weeks or months, it seems that nothing should change much (excluding the people who are used to making money from trading)

Am I missing something? Is there some vital, urgent, need the stock markets fulfill on a daily basis, and thus we can’t stop them for any length of time?

Again, I understand that this will most likely never happen. I’m just wondering, if it happens, what would be the downside?

2

Stock values do provide quite a bit of support for raising short-term capital through other means, like loans. A company with a solid stock price will have better opportunities for raising cash than a company with a shaky stock price, at least when banks are lending.

In terms of general psychology, halting trading for a long period of time would largely create greater panic. The stock markets have taken a tremendous beating, but sooner or later people will step in and start scooping up bargains. Just as when the market goes up and everybody wants to buy, right now everybody wants to sell. If you prevent people from purchasing, that stops any chance of the markets turning around, and sends a signal that things are really, really, really bad.

3

No one would be able to take any money out of the markets. This would exacerbate the capital crisis we are now seeing.

4

Yes – it would be like closing a bank indefinitely because there was a run on the bank. People depending on their stocks to raise money in the short term would be hurt far more than taking a 20% loss (as they are doing at the moment).