Some say many people may be hanging on to their supplies in case of winter storms - or waiting to make sure the Y2K threat has truly passed. The first major business day of the millennium opened with very few signs of Y2K computer glitches. Though glitches did hit government computers in Hong Kong and mainland China, there were no reports of calamitous failures as feared. Executives at banks and stock markets around the world said their computers kept humming through the millennium rollover at midnight Friday, but there was still some apprehension heading into their first live test today. Today, there has been no bug, which is to say that all the great computer and electrical systems around the world successfully passed in the year 2000.
Every great battle provides heroes.
Banks and savings and loans escaped the Y2K computer changeover unscathed, with no major problems reported over the New Year's weekend. With Americans back to work on Monday, traffic at automated teller machines should increase but ''I expect things will run smoothly and then there will be a big sigh of relief,'' said the head of the Electronic Funds Transfer Association, which represents the nation's major ATMs. The securities industry also expects a smooth Monday as major exchanges reopen for business after a brief holiday break. Instead, seven continents stepped joyously into the 21st century. Billions of dollars spent on preventing computer bugs either paid off or were simply unnecessary.