• Hope everybody enjoyed the unexpected day off due to closure of U.S stock markets today due to Hurricane Sandy.  Looks like market closed tomorrow also. Even includes CBOE and CME.

Update: Storm will keep financial markets shuttered Tuesday

US financial markets will remain closed for a second day Tuesday due to Hurricane Sandy.

NEW YORK — Stock trading will be closed in the U.S. for a second day Tuesday as Hurricane Sandy bears down on the East Coast. Bond trading will also be closed.

It will be the first time since 1888 that the New York Stock Exchange will have been closed for two consecutive days because of bad weather . The cause then was a blizzard that left drifts as high as 40 feet in the streets of New York City.

The New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq said they intend to reopen on Wednesday and would keep investors updated.

Much of the East Coast was at a standstill Monday as the storm approached. Mass transit and schools were closed across the region ahead of the storm hitting land, which was expected to happen later Monday.

Areas around the Financial District were part of a mandatory evacuation zone. The storm surge is already pushing water over seawalls in the southern tip of Manhattan.

The NYSE's parent company said late Sunday that it had decided to close all of its markets Monday. After a call on Monday, the shutdown was extended through Tuesday.

The move was coordinated with other financial exchange operators, regulators and government officials, NYSE said. Nasdaq OMX Group said it is shutting down the Nasdaq stock market and its other U.S.-based exchanges and markets.

CME Group in Chicago will suspend trading of equity index futures and equity index options starting at 8:15 a.m. CDT. It had already announced the closing of the New York Mercantile Exchange, or NYMEX, whose trading floor is located inside a mandatory evacuation zone.

The companies cited concerns about the market's ability to function without disruption and the safety of people who work there.

In addition, the US Labor Dept. said Monday it is still hopeful it can release the October jobs report Friday, but the storm will be a factor.