It’s hard to focus on anything

By Theresa Goffredo

Herald Writer

EVERETT — It was mostly business as usual.

While the Everett and Alderwood malls closed for the day, as did some local brokerage houses, most enterprises continued operating in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C.

The banking community in the Everett area felt nary a ripple from the attack, which shut down the U.S. financial markets and caused the nation’s Federal Reserve to pledge to make more money available if the need arises.

"The customers are here, and no one has said a word," said Kathi Raymur, assistant manager for Bank of America’s Everett branch. "It’s business as usual — those cities are just too far away. Maybe if the Navy went on alert, we’d be all panicking and trying to get out of town. But nothing."

Lyle Ryan, executive vice president of Frontier Bank in Everett, called the event "surreal."

"It’s hard to focus on anything on my desk right now as being important," Ryan said Tuesday.

But Ryan said that he didn’t see this isolated terrorist attack as having much of a ripple affect across the nation in the banking community.

"I would hope people would look at banking in our country as very stable industry," Ryan said. "These are the types of things unfortunately that happen in our world, and we’ll still survive."

The shopping malls shut down out of respect for the victims and their families and were scheduled to reopen today.

Starbucks planned to reopen its coffee outlets today after shutting its doors Tuesday.

Microsoft’s president and chief operating officer, Rick Belluzzo, sent an e-mail to staff members saying they could work from home or take the day off Tuesday. Amazon.com also gave employees the option to go home.

Microsoft’s New York and Washington, D.C., offices were closed, spokesman Matt Pilla said.

Several Everett-area investment firms followed the lead of their East Coast-based headquarters and closed. Piper Jaffray in Everett, whose headquarters are in Minneapolis, was closed but planned on opening today.

Branch manager Mike Bartlett said people shouldn’t panic. "We just need to stay calm," he said.

That same message was sent from other local investment firms who remained open.

Jack Jones III, an investment representative with Edward Jones, said clients should continue to maintain a business sense rather than letting their emotions get the better of them during this tragedy.

"We need to stay the course from a business point of view," Jones said. "We may see some negative market when the markets reopen, but as time passes, you, like companies of the world, will still go to work, factory assembly lines will still flow and we’ll still throw out 20 million television sets every day, and activities are still going to go on. Life goes on and it will continue to go on, and we need to recognize that is the case."

Kathleen Hansen, branch manager and owner of an investment brokerage in Snohomish, said she noticed no reaction from her customers Wednesday, but said she didn’t know what would happen today.

She reminded investors to think in the long term. "If we did see a little panic sell-off, that would be exactly the wrong decision to make," Hansen said.

Other advice Hansen passed on came from a friend of hers, who said to go to church and pray.

"There’s money, and there’s life, and we have to put it into perspective," she said.

You can call Herald Writer Theresa Goffredo at 425-339-3097

or send e-mail to goffredo@heraldnet.com.