In the mood of heightened security, NASDAQ employees had to evacuate today after a suspicious van was found in the parking lot next to their building. The van, which had no license plates, was reported to have been there several days. It also had a placard in its window reading "Detective's Crime Clinic, Metropolitan New Jersey and New York", although police investigation revealed that this was a phony law enforcement agency. After securing the area and warning office workers in nearby Conde Nast and NASDAQ buildings to evacuate, bomb squad officers sent in a robot to examine the vehicle. After the robot looked inside the vehicle, policemen opened it up and found piles of clothing and scarves, which looked like the belongings of a street peddler. They also found an altered registration card, and are currently trying to locate the van's owner.

Security is especially high in Times Square right now as preparations for the huge celebration on New Years Eve are underway. A few hours after the van had been cleared, Mayor Michael Bloomberg appeared outside the NASDAQ building and declared the city safe for New Years Eve, saying "Somebody thought it was suspicious. They called. We checked it out. It turned out not to be anything bad".