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24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell — October 29, 2012: Markets Closed as Hurricane Sandy Aims at New York (WIT, OFC, LOCK, JAKK, URI, PBR, BKW, HRS, L, LUFK, EDU, PCG, SNH, APC, FMC, AGN, ADM, CAR, AVP, BP, JCI, JDSU, STX, YNDX, RVBD, OPNT, EBAY, CLH)

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By Paul Ausick Updated Published
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U.S. stock markets were closed today as New York City and the entire East Coast of the country from the Carolinas to Maine prepare to deal with Hurricane Sandy. In New York, the subway has been closed as have commuter highway tunnels and some bridges. With U.S. markets closed the news centered on the effects the storm might have on global markets and on shares in some sectors, particularly U.S. insurance companies (more coverage here), financial institutions, and oil refineries (more coverage here). In Europe today, markets closed lower, and in Asia markets closed mixed as traders wait to see the impact of the storm on the U.S. The U.S. stock and bond markets will also be closed tomorrow (more coverage here).

The U.S. dollar index rose slightly today, now up 0.21% at 80.239. The GSCI commodity index is up fractionally at 638.97, with commodities prices mostly lower again today. WTI crude oil closed down 0.9% in electronic trading today, at $85.54 a barrel. Brent crude trades down 0.13% at $109.41 a barrel. Natural gas is up 2.2% today at about $3.47 per thousand cubic feet. Gold closed at $1,708.70 an ounce, down 0.2% for the day.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Wipro Ltd. (NYSE: WIT) raised to ‘outperform’ at Credit Suisse; Corporate Office Properties (NYSE: OFC) raised to ‘outperform’ at BMO Capital Markets; LifeLock Inc. (NYSE: LOCK) started as ‘buy’ at Needham , Deutsche Bank, and Goldman Sachs; JAKKS Pacific Inc. (NASDAQ: JAKK) maintained as ‘underperform’ and named ‘Bear of the Day’ at Zacks; and United Rentals Inc. (NYSE: URI) named ‘value stock of the day’ at Zacks.

There were several earnings reports today although, of course, there was no impact on share prices: Petroleo Brasileiro SA, aka Petrobras, (NYSE: PBR), Burger King Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: BKW) (more coverage here), Harris Corp. (NYSE: HRS), Loews Corp. (NYSE: L), Lufkin Industries Inc. (NASDAQ: LUFK), New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. (NYSE: EDU), PG&E Corp. (NYSE: PCG), Senior Housing Properties Trust (NYSE: SNH), Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: APC), and FMC Corp. (NYSE: FMC).

Some firms that had been scheduled to report results this week have postponed their announcements due to the weather. We have a roundup of those we know about here. Others still scheduled to report earnings tomorrow include Allergan Inc. (NYSE: AGN), Archer Daniels Midland Co. (NYSE: ADM), Avis Budget Group Inc. (NASDAQ: CAR), Avon Products Inc. (NYSE: AVP), BP plc (NYSE: BP), Johnson Controls Inc. (NYSE: JCI) JDS Uniphase Corp. (NASDAQ: JDSU), Seagate Technology plc (NASDAQ: STX), and Yandex NV (NASDAQ: YNDX).

Major stories from today include:

Riverbed Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: RVBD) is acquiring smaller rival OPNET Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: OPNT) for $43 a share in cash and stock, or about $1 billion. More coverage here.

eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) today eliminated about 325 jobs at its PayPal subsidiary. More coverage here.

Clean Harbors Inc. (NYSE: CLH) will acquire oil recycler Safety-Kleen in an all-cash deal worth $1.25 billion. More coverage here.

Stay tuned for Tuesday. U.S. bond and equities markets are closed due to the weather tomorrow. New York Fed President William Dudley has cancelled a scheduled speech, but Minneapolis Fed President Narayana Kocherlakota is scheduled to give a speech Tuesday evening in Duluth. We have noted the following event on the schedule (all times Eastern):

  • 7:45 a.m. – ICSC-Goldman store sales
  • 8:55 a.m. – Redbook
  • 9:00 a.m. – S&P Case-Shiller house price index

Paul Ausick

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About the Author Paul Ausick →

Paul Ausick has been writing for 247Wallst.com for more than a decade. He has written extensively on investing in the energy, defense, and technology sectors. In a previous life, he wrote technical documentation and managed a marketing communications group in Silicon Valley.

He has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago and now lives in Montana, where he fishes for trout in the summer and stays inside during the winter.

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24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell — October 30, 2012: Markets to Re-open Tomorrow (ACI, MPC, LAD, IDTI, BPL, AGN, ADM, CAR, AVP, BP, JCI, F, JDSU, STX, YNDX, BUD, MT, CNH, COCO, CMII, ETN, H, MA, PSX, CLX, WM, BP, BIDU, UBS)

U.S. stock markets were closed again today as New York City recovered from the damage brought on by Hurricane Sandy.…

Paul Ausick |

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell — February 28, 2013: Markets Climb Before Late Day Slide (EBAY, RHT, SKS, FSLR, VMW, CECO, CLR, GRPN, GTAT, JCP, LTD, MNST, RGR, PANL, BKS, CVC, KSS, SHLD, BODY, CTIC, CLNE, DECK, GPS, MCP, PANW, SD, BBY, GRPN, JCP, BSFT)

U.S. equity markets opened mixed this morning as the federal budget sequester appears to be set to go into effect…

Paul Ausick |

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell — October 17, 2012: Markets Don’t Move Much Today (C, CSCO, TWX, RYL, ADTN, BAC, CSX, IBM, INTC, URI, ABT, BK, BLK, CHKP, CMA, HAL, KCG, PEP, USB, AXP, EBAY, NE, STLD, BSX, DO, MS, NVR, PM, LUV, SVU, UNP, VZ, CYMI, APOL, FTNT)

The three major U.S. stock indexes opened lower this morning, and never really got untracked all day. Spanish 10-year bond…

Paul Ausick |

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell — June 18, 2012 (EBAY, EOG, CELG, NOK, PAY, ADBE, BKS, FDX, JBL, JEF, TOPS, XG, AUY, IDCC, INTC, BODY)

The three major US stock indexes opened lower this morning as markets reacted to a rise in the yield of…

Paul Ausick |

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell — April 17, 2013: Markets Open Down, Track Lower All Day

U.S. equity markets opened lower this morning following a downturn in Europe and mixed markets in Asia. Data releases were…

Paul Ausick |

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell — November 12, 2012: Markets Open Today, But Not Much Action (GRMN, CHK, JCP, DIS, GRPN, CRDN, DHI, BAGL, JEC, WFT, DKS, HD, KORS, SKS, TJX, TIE, PCP, JEF, LUK, BZH)

U.S. equity markets opened higher this morning on a day when most government offices and banks are closed in observance…

Paul Ausick |

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell — July 6, 2012: Equities Soft on China Slowdown, European Debt

The three major US stock indexes opened lower this morning following report from China that it has cut inflation to…

Paul Ausick |

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell — July 19, 2012: Market Up Slightly, Tech Leads

The three major US stock indexes opened higher this morning as investors continue to hope for more central bank stimulation…

Paul Ausick |

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell — April 8, 2013: Markets Recover from Early Losses to Close Higher (JNJ, VALE, LLL, RBCN, MTN, AA, AMD, MSFT, WFT, MTG, LUFK, GE)

U.S. equity markets opened lower this morning but all three major indexes managed to pull off small gain by the…

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