As Hurricane Sandy approaches the US East Coast, New York is just one of the areas preparing itself. The rare super-storm, which could be the biggest ever to hit the US mainland, is expected to hit the coast tonight, and bring with it, torrential rain, high winds, severe flooding, and power outages.
Several banks in lower Manhattan have been declared to exist within the evacuation zones and non-critical staff have been asked to work from home.
Several companies have decided to delay the release of their earnings releases including Pfizer Inc., and Entergy Corp., with more expected to make the same decision shortly.
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Wall Street had initially planned to close the NYSE Euronext's New York Stock Exchange physical trading floor, leaving just the electronic exchange open for the first time ever. The plan then changed to one which would see the entire stock market on Tuesday; however following a discussion between regulators, exchanges, and dealers, the decision was made to close the market today, and tomorrow.
It will be the first time since the 27th of September 1985, that the stock market has been closed due to the weather; with Hurricane Gloria to blame that time.
By. Joao Peixe of Oilprice.com
Joao is a writer for Oilprice.com More