For almost nine months following the Oct. 19, 1987, crash, U.S. financial markets failed to install any substantial safeguards to prevent a recurrence. The delay prompted calls for new regulations and frightened individual investors away from the stock market. Last week, in a surprising show of cooperation, the New York Stock Exchange and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange proposed safety measures in response to concerns raised by several Government studies of the crash.
The two exchanges, at which the simultaneous program trading of stocks in New York City and index futures in Chicago can create fearsome volatility, agreed to impose restrictions when...