US Stock Markets To Close Tuesday Amid Hurricane Sandy Fury

U.S. stock markets will be closed Tuesday, for the second continuous day as Hurricane Sandy, Atlantic’s Ocean’s biggest-ever tropical storm, hit the east coast Monday.

With market participants and regulators worried about the hazardous conditions developing due to the storm, the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq stock market released the statement announcing their closure for Tuesday.

“In consultation with other exchanges and market participants, NYSE Euronext (NYX) will close its markets in coordination with all U.S. equities, bonds, options and derivatives markets on Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012,” NYSE Euronext said in a statement. “We intend to re-open our U.S. markets on Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2012, conditions permitting; updates will be provided tomorrow,” it added.

It is also reported that NYSE Euronext is planning the implementation of an emergency plan to recommence the equity trading.

Thomson Reuters Corporation, Pfizer Inc, Entergy Corporation and NRG Energy Inc, who were expected to announce their quarterly earnings reports Tuesday, decided to postpone the release of results in the wake of Hurricane Sandy currently affecting the East Coast.

Heavy rains and gusty winds are running their course, leading to sporadic power outages and flooding in New York area. According to disaster modeling company Eqecat, the economic losses due to the storm are going to be between $10 billion to $20 billion.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department released its report Monday on the personal income and spending for September. Personal spending, which measures change in the inflation adjusted value of all spending by consumers, showed a rise of 0.8 percent in September, up from 0.5 percent in August. Personal income, which measures the change in the total value of income received from all sources by consumers, rose 0.4 percent in September up from 0.1 percent in August.

The S&P/Case-Shiller House Price Index that measures the change in the selling price of single-family homes in 20 metropolitan areas will be reported by S&P Tuesday. It is expected to report a rise of 1.9 percent in August compared to the same month last year.

However, the Conference Board has postponed the scheduled release of the Consumer Confidence Index from Tuesday to Thursday. The CCI, an indicator of the consumer spending that plays a major role in overall economic activity, is expected to rise to 72.5 in October, up from 70.3 in September.