The New York Stock Exchange has announced that it will remain closed on Monday October 29th and possibly also tomorrow. That as hurricane Sandy is expected to make land-fall late this evening, in the Mid-Atlantic state of New Jersey.

The firm which operates the largest of America´s trading venues has issued a statement explaining that it supports the consensus of the markets and the regulatory community that, "the dangerous conditions developing as a result of Hurricane Sandy will make it extremely difficult to ensure the safety of our people and communities, and safety must be our first priority".

It added: "We will work with the industry to determine the next steps in restoring trading as soon as the situation permits."

Worth pointing out, warnings of gusts of wind as strong as 70 miles (113 kilometers) per hour are in place for as far north as Maine to North Carolina in the south and as far west as Ohio, according to the National Weather Service. Furthermore, the fact that Sandy will combine with two other storms has led some observers to christen Sandy as a "Frankenstorm."

Perhaps the largest -and most important- impact from Sandy, given the broad swath of the potentially affected areas, may be on the levels of voter turn-out at the upcoming US Presidential elections. Some commentary points out this morning that such a scenario might benefit the Romney campaign.

As regards the purely economic costs of the storm -which may have a particularly large impact on insurers- some analysts put the total cots for the projected damages at approximately $18bn. Nevertheless, such estimates are likely to vary considerably in the coming days.

Significantly, more than 6,800 commercial flights have already been grounded, including all those from the three major airports in and around the New York City area.

The immediate effect of the storm´s approach has also already been felt in the petrochemical sector, as the refineries in the storms´ path close, thus lowering demand for crude oil.

Phillips 66's 238,000 barrel per day Bayway plant in Linden, the second largest on the Eastern seaboard has already closed operations and at least another three have cut their output.

Meanwhile, and in New York, 375,000 people are being moved from low-lying areas.

AB

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