U.S. Stock-Index Futures Advance in Aftermath of Storm

U.S. stock-index futures rose as investors assessed the impact of Hurricane Sandy and prepared for the reopening of equity markets tomorrow.

Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SPX) expiring in December added 0.2 percent from Friday’s close, as of 6 p.m. New York time. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures gained 2 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 13,056.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission canceled equity trading yesterday and today as the 900-mile wide storm caused flooding and blackouts. The New York Stock Exchange said it plans to open tomorrow.

The Labor Department is striving to issue its monthly report on employment in the U.S. in three days as scheduled, a spokesman said today. The jobs report is the last before the presidential election, and may help sway voters trying to decide between giving President Barack Obama another four years in office or to change course with Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

Nonfarm payrolls increased by 125,000 workers in October and the jobless rate rose to 7.9 percent, the report on Nov. 2 will show, according to median forecasts of economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

The S&P/Case-Shiller Index of property values in 20 cities rose 2 percent in August from a year earlier, after a 1.2 percent advance in July, a report showed today. The average estimate by economists in a Bloomberg survey had called for a 1.9 percent increase.

To contact the reporter on this story: Inyoung Hwang in New York at ihwang7@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Lynn Thomasson at lthomasson@bloomberg.net

Sandbags surround the New York Stock Exchange in preparation for Hurricane Sandy in New York. Photographer: Peter Foley/Bloomberg

1:16

Oct. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Record flooding knocked out power to more than 8 million people in the U.S. Northeast, shutting down public transportation and paralyzing Manhattan’s financial district as remnants of superstorm Sandy churned west. This slideshow illustrates the storm's impact from coastal New Jersey to the shores of Lake Michigan. (Source: Bloomberg)