Storm leads companies to postpone earnings reports
NEW YORK — With Hurricane Sandy bearing down on the East Coast Monday, a number of major U.S. companies have postponed quarterly earnings as financial markets shut down for the first time since 2001.
Acorda Therapeutics Inc., Pfizer Inc., Thomson Reuters and NRG Energy Inc. have already delayed earnings reports. Pfizer and NRG Energy made the decision early, as they were not set to report earnings until Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.
Acorda will now announce its third-quarter results on Wednesday, while Pfizer and Radian Group Inc. will now report earnings on Thursday. Thomson Reuters and NRG Energy will report their third-quarter results on Friday. Entergy Corp. will report on Nov. 5.
Other companies, including Burger King, are reporting as planned.
The New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq and CME Group in Chicago will remain closed Monday and possibly Tuesday. Trading on the NYSE was last closed on Sept. 11, 2001, and last closed for a weather related event in 1985, for Hurricane Gloria.
If the exchange remains close Tuesday, it would be the first consecutive-day closing since 1888, when a blizzard left drifts of snow as high as 40 feet.
Sandy strengthened before dawn Monday and stayed on a predicted path toward Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York — putting it on a collision course with two other weather systems that would create a superstorm with the potential for havoc over 800 miles from the East Coast to the Great Lakes. About 2 to 3 feet of snow were even forecast for mountainous parts of West Virginia.
Lower parts of Manhattan around the Financial District are under mandatory evacuation orders.