Hurricane Sandy made landfall in New Jersey on Monday and left a path of devastation in its wake. Throughout the northeastern seaboard of the United States, subways are flooded, thousands of flights have been cancelled and millions were left without power. With the Securities Industry’s decision to close all U.S. Equity Markets on Monday, and Tuesday, ZE has been monitoring the impact this will have on data for our clients.
Below is a summary of the impact on some important data sources that we are tracking:
CME Group:
| Product | Timeline | Event |
| Interest Rate complex, including Treasury, Eurodollar and Fed Funds futures and options on futures markets | Monday, October 29th 11:00am CT | Market closed on trading floor and on CME Globex |
| Monday, October 29th 5:00pm CT | Market (both Globex and trading floor) reopened and resumed regular trading hours | |
| Credit Default Swaps (CDS) | Monday, October 29th 5:45pm CT | CDS accepted until this time (regular deal acceptance time) with settlement curves calculated at 11:00am CT |
| *CDS curves determined based upon a submission window that closed at 11:35am CT. | ||
| Interest Rate Swaps (IRS) | Monday, October 29th6:00pm CT | IRS accepted until this time (regular deal acceptance time). |
| *Non-dollar settlement curves derived at normal times | ||
| U.S. equity index futures and options on futures markets | Monday, October 29th 8:15am CT | Trading floor and Globex markets closed |
| *Settlement prices based on Friday’s settlement prices | ||
| Monday, October 29th 5:00pm CT | Market reopened for overnight electronic trading | |
| Tuesday, October 30th 8:15am CT | Globex electronic markets closed | |
| *Settlement prices based on Friday’s results but will re-settle at 8:15am CT if market conditions warrant it. | ||
| Wednesday, October 31st | All CME markets should open on normal schedule | |
Full data and updates available at: http://www.cmegroup.com/hurricanesandy.html
ICE:
| Product | Timeline | Event |
| Russell equity index futures and options | Monday, October 29th 8:00pm ET | Market opens |
| Tuesday, October 30th 9:15am ET | Market closes | |
| Clear Credit | Tuesday, October 30th | Market Closed |
| All ICE Markets | Wednesday, October 30th | Open |
Full data and updates available at: http://ir.theice.com/releases.cfm
As of the morning of October 30th, NYISO has reported 90 transmission line outages in Southeastern New York, approximately 5,300 megawatts of generation capacity is out of service and the load on the system is 73% less than the previous day. PJM is reporting 4 million customers without electricity, and 41 transmissions lines or substations out of service, mainly due to flooding. NEISO has reported that 1.3 million customers are without power as of October 30th. All service operators have indicated that while loss of generating capabilities did occur, the loss of transmission lines or substations were the true cause of outages.
With only overnight market data available, the actual impact of Hurricane Sandy on the futures market is yet to be fully felt. With refineries shutting down in preparation for the storm, short-term supply could be a concern. However, unlike Katrina, the refining capacity on the northeast coast makes up a smaller portion of the market and the sharp decline in demand might well balance out any supply shortfall.
Hurricane Sandy will leave a lasting impact on those living in Southeastern Canada and the Northeastern United States. This storm highlighted the importance of automating business critical reports to allow regular business operations continue with limited manpower.
ZE is proud to note that throughout the turmoil, the ZEMA Suite proved to be a reliable set of tools as it continued delivering automation of internal data processes. All information continued to be captured and analyzed throughout this disruption.