NYSE will allow some market makers to return to the trading floor Wednesday

• The New York Stock Exchange will allow some market makers to return to the trading floor Wednesday, Chief Operating Officer Michael Blaugrund told Bloomberg in a Monday interview.
• The market makers designated to return will add to the 25% of participants that went back to the trading floor when it partially reopened May 26.
• Those returning will be asked to sign waivers, as well as submit to medical screenings and random testing for COVID-19.
• They will also be required to wear face masks and practice social distancing, and will work on hand-held devices instead of open outcry, Bloomberg reported.
• Read more on Business Insider.

The New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday will allow some market makers to return to its trading floor, Bloomberg reported Monday.

"This is a really important milestone for us," NYSE Chief Operating Officer Michael Blaugrund told Bloomberg in an interview.

The market makers designated to return will add to the 25% of participants who went back to the trading floor when it partially reopened May 26. Those who will be returning this week will be asked to sign waivers, as well as submit to medical screenings and random testing for COVID-19, according to the report.

Once inside the venue, things will look a little different as well — market makers will be required to wear face masks, practice social distancing, and will work on hand-held devices instead of open outcry, Bloomberg reported.

Read more: GOLDMAN SACHS: Buy these 9 dirt-cheap stocks now before their share prices catch up to their strong earnings upside

According to Blaugrund, the expectation is that the designated market makers will provide manual opening and closing auctions, critical for price liquidity, he told Bloomberg.

GTS, one designated market maker, will send eight employees back to the NYSE, according to the report. That's half the firm's usual level, CEO Ari Rubenstein told Bloomberg.

Still, Rubenstein said that clients have been pushing for market makers to return to the NYSE before quadruple witching this Friday, the rebalancing of the Russell indexes next week, and the start of corporate earnings season, according to the report.