Besides causing unimaginable personal loss and grief, the attacks rippled across our country, disrupting sales, production, and air travel and damping the confidence of consumers and businesses. And the attacks severely, if temporarily, disrupted financial market operations and activity. As testimony to the resilience of the American spirit, the immediate impact of the attacks has proved transient.
Our society and, in particular, our financial system are rebounding from the initial influences of the attacks. In the financial sector, market participants showed great creativity, flexibility, and resolve in addressing the difficulties that arose on September 11.