STOCK index futures rose yesterday, in what could be a volatile day of trading, as equity markets reopen after closing for two days as a damaging storm thrashed the Northeast.
The New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq shuttered operations on Monday, hours before hurricane Sandy made landfall on the US eastern seaboard with devastating consequences. Transport into and around New York City remained limited yesterday, while wide-scale power outages meant many would be unable to work from home. Stocks moving in premarket trading included Ford Motor Co (F.N), which reported earnings during the closure and rose 1,9% to $10.56; Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.N) was up 2,4% to $2,12, and Home Depot (HD.N) climbed 1,4% to $60,90.
Home Depot, a Dow component, is viewed as a company that may benefit from the storm as people buy rebuilding supplies. Insurance companies, which may be on the hook for billions of dollars of damage relating to the storm, will also be in view, as will airlines, which cancelled thousands of flights in the northeast because of Sandy. After two days of market closure during the busy corporate earnings season and at the end of the fiscal year for some funds, some analysts predicted an over reaction and higher-than-normal volume as pent-up demand is realised during early trading.— Reuters