[ by Melanie Gretchen ]

International Cast of Casualties. 

U.S. stock and option markets, along with East Coast residents of the United States are not the only ones to experience the wrath of Hurricane Sandy.  Here's an international cast of casualty sufferers:

European Markets.  Insurers on both Britain’s national market - FTSE or 'Footsie" - and France's market  - CAC - kept the overall markets down for the day.  Insurers Munich Re, Aviva PLC and Zurich Insurance, among others, experienced the worst, as investors worried about the potential cost of the storm’s damage.  RBC Capital Markets analyst Elsa Lignos said:  "The economic impact cannot be underestimated."

Presidential Campaigning.  With just one week to go before the Tuesday, November 6th, presidential election, both parties have been slowed to a crawl, with several days of critical campaign events having to be canceled or postponed.  Looming at the end of this week - Friday - the government will release monthly jobs data, which many analysts think could have an impact on the vote.

"‘A significant swing in either direction is likely to be heavily reported in the media, potentially swinging the undecided voter." -- James Hughes, chief market analyst at Alpari, speaking in reference to the jobs figures.

Corporate Earnings Reports.   Some companies, have postponed the release of their quarterly earnings reports scheduled for early this week - e.g., Pfizer and Thomson Reuters, both based  in New York  - - because of the storm. No one's around to get their numbers - SEC personnel may not even be in the office to receive the quarterly filings.

[C-I Note:  They could have taken a cue from the King - Burger King - which moved up the date of the its earnings report.  Not sure what they gained or why they did it - Q3 net income fell 83% as revenue was hurt by the stronger dollar, though adjusted results exceeded expectations.]

Short & Long Term Impacts on Consumer Spending.    On the short term, consumers have been clearing out store shelves in preparation for the storm.  That of course doesn't help clothing retailers, who won't see the individual consumer for days.  Also, after the storm passes, there's sure to be plenty of repairs and replacements.  For the long term, individuals and companies will feel poorer by whatever damage is incurred.  And their money will go to necessary expenses and discretionary expenditures - like travel, clothing, and the like.

And all this had to happen just when consumer spending was picking up:

• consumer spending increased 0.8% in September, the best since February, after a 0.5% gain in August  [C-I Note: consumer spending drives about 70% of the nation’s economic activity]
• personal income rose 0.4%, which was an improvement from a slight 0.1% gain in August and the best gain since March

Thinning Out Already-TSecurities Trading.  By the time trading ended at its regular time of 9:15 a.m., Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 61 points to 12,993 and S&P 500 futures fell 5 points to 1,402.  In addition, Nasdaq futures fell 15 to 2,643.

For further details, go to [Boston Globe, 10/29/12].