US stock market circuit breakers working as expected, says NYSE president

A 7% decline in the S&P 500 triggered a 15 minute trading pause shortly after the market opened

Safeguards in the US stock market are functioning as planned, the president of the New York Stock Exchange said on Monday, after a 7 per cent decline in the S&P 500 triggered a 15 minute trading pause shortly after the market opened.

"The market-wide circuit breakers are designed to slow trading down for a few minutes to give investors the ability to understand what's happening in the market," Stacey Cunningham, president of Intercontinental Exchange Inc's NYSE, told CNBC.