Wall Street remains shut as Hurricane Sandy wreaks havoc

New York: Wall Street remained closed on Tuesday, and US stock exchanges said they were testing contingency plans to ensure trading resumes as soon as possible this week after Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast.

US markets will be closed for a second day - the first time since 1888 that the NYSE remained closed for two consecutive days due to weather.

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The New York Stock Exchange said contingency plans are being tested only as a safety measure.

The measures would push the opening and closing auctions to the electronic NYSE Arca system.

Futures trading will go on until 9:15 a.m. Eastern (1315 GMT), but volume was light.

Dow Jones industrial futures fell 21 points to 13,033. The broader S&P futures gave up 0.6 points to 1,407. Nasdaq futures slipped 7.75 points to 2,651.25.

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Officials with the NYSE and Nasdaq said they plan to open on Wednesday, though parts of the financial district were inundated with water.

Dozens of companies have postponed earnings reports this week because of the storm, but Ford Motor Co. released results for the third quarter that topped Wall Street expectations.

Global markets rebounded, though trading was subdued in the wake of the storm.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was up 0.7 percent at 5,835 while Germany's DAX rose 0.9 percent to 7,266. The CAC-40 in France was 0.8 percent higher at 3,436.

Earlier in Asia, trading was mixed.

Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 1 percent to close at 8,841.98.

South Korea's Kospi index rose 0.4 percent to 1,899.58 but Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 0.4 percent to 21,428.58. Benchmarks in mainland China also rose.

Crude oil prices rose 50 cents to $86.04 Tuesday in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

AP