Storm Sandy Takes Toll on Businesses

Bloomberg is reporting that the Stock market is closed for the second day in a row.  This is the first time in more than a century since weather has stopped the Stock Market from trading.  

Hurricane Sandy slammed into southern New Jersey at about 6pm last night and turned north over land. The storm, 900 miles wide, produced life- threatening surges and caused what may add up to billions of dollars of damage. At least 316,500 customers are without power, and thousands of securities industry employees stayed home as Sandy flooded lower Manhattan.

Exchanges are planning to reopen Oct. 31, weather permitting, according to statements from NYSE Euronext and Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. (NDAQ).

Chicago reacted to the storm saying, “I’m a little surprised that the exchanges couldn’t secure the technology needed to keep the market operating,” Dominic Salvino, a specialist on the CBOE floor for Group One Trading, the primary market maker for VIX options, said in a phone interview. “It seems unreasonable that the nation’s financial markets have to shut down just because everyone has located themselves within five miles of each other in New Jersey. A snow storm in Chicago wouldn’t shut down trading on the East Coast.”

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