How Sandy is Effecting the Housing Market

 

As many of you know, serious damages and flooding in the Tri-State area caused most of Wall Street to shut its doors on October 29th and 30th. The NYSE halted trading due to weather related issues for two consecutive days for the first time since the blizzard of 1888. US Equity and dollar-denominated trading will resume today as usual. Sandy’s aftermath will be felt in the financial markets in a variety of ways. Volume can expected to be high for two reasons: i) today is the last day of the month and funds are looking to count P&L and balance books; and ii) investors who held overnight positions will be looking to close today. Home Depot (NYSE: HD) will be an interesting company to watch post Sandy, as consumers begin to rebuild their homes. I expect insurance companies to suffer significant losses from the hurricane, which while effect markets today.