Wall Street Remains Closed for Second Day

Bikram Pandey
30 Oct, 2012
New York City

Stock exchanges and Wall Street was closed for the second day in a row. Lower Manhattan, where the New York Stock Exchange is located, is struggling with widespread salt water flooding and power outages that may cripple the activities for days to come.

[R]12:10 PM New York – Stock exchanges and Wall Street was closed for the second day in a row. Lower Manhattan, where the New York Stock Exchange is located, is struggling with widespread salt water flooding and power outages. China pumped record cash into the financial system on Tuesday.[/R]

Stocks exchanges and Wall Street remained closed for the second day in a row on Tuesday as the Lower Manhattan area sufers widespread power outages and salt water flooding.

The New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq stock market and BATS Global Markets said that the exchanges have agreed to close for the second day after discussing with clients and regulators.

The NYSE said it is testing all-electronic trading systems with a goal to resume trading tomorrow. The NYSE Arca System is expected to handle opening and closing auctions and the exchange confirmed that the all-electronic trading system has never been used to replace floor trading.

Large areas of Lower Manhattan are flooded and widespread electric outages are reported in the area.

Hurricane forced market closure is not likely to have lasting impact on the market trading but market participants are expecting higher volatility for a week when the markets finally open.

The estimate of losses linked to flooding, wind damage and rain have been raised to $20 billion from $6 billion and may increase more as more details emerge of the widespread disaster.

Several companies delayed the release of earnings results because of the storm and Ford Motor was among the few companies to report and beat the expectations of analysts.

In addition, Archer-Daniels said first quarter net plunged 60% and Cardinal Health net soared 15% and reaffirmed fiscal outlook. Ecolab reported third quarter net jumped 54% but lowered 2012 guidance. Ford Motor third quarter net declined 18% and Johnson Controls fourth quarter net swung to loss.

Across the Atlantic, the European indexes rose on upbeat corporate earnings. German jobless rate remained unchanged at 6.9% in October and UBS plans to slash 10,000 jobs. Bayer HealthCare agreed to acquire Schiff Nutrition for $1.2 billion.

Deutsche Bank net revenues rose 18% to €8.7 billion and UBS loss in the third quarter enlarged. Imperial Tobacco full-year revenue fell 2% to £28.57 billion. BP quarterly profit rose.

In Asian trading, the Nikkei index in Tokyo declined for the third day and dropped to its one-month average after Bank of Japan announced the widely expected asset purchase program increase. The central bank also left its target rate range between zero and 0.1%. Earnings were in focus as more than 560 companies are scheduled to release results this week.

People’s Bank of China said Tuesday it provided 290 billion yuan or $33.2 billion of 7-day repurchase agreements at 3.35% rate during its regular market operation. The short term lending facility was also extended to 105 billion yuan of 28-day reverse repos at 3.6%.

China’s central bank offered record high cash into the financial system to ease the crunch as banks and commercial lenders tackle a surge in demand. The central bank’s action was widely anticipated after the bank withdrew cash from the system for two weeks in a row.

Australian stocks struggled to advance and investors looked to international markets for direction. Virgin Australia announced a far reaching alliance with Singapore Airlines, Etihad and Air New Zealand and sold 10% stake to Singapore Airlines.