Stocks Finish Mixed After Two-Day Sandy Shutdown

The following is an excerpt from an article in The Street that quotes Finance Professor Rob Battalio about the stock market closing during the hurricane. To read the entire article visit: Stocks Finish Mixed After Two-Day Sandy Shutdown

Stocks fluctuated Wednesday afternoon during the first full day of trading since Hurricane Sandy forced a historic two-day shutdown of major U.S. markets.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 11 points, or 0.08%, to 13,096 on its first day of trading since Oct. 26. The Blue Chip index traded as high as 13,189 and as low as 13,052.

Breadth within the Dow was mostly negative, as losers were ahead of winners 19 to 11.

Excerpt

"The SEC gets bashed a lot, but it made the right decision to coordinate the market closures," Robert Battalio, a finance professor at University of Notre Dame, wrote in an email. "Closing the exchange means there were a lot of bad trades that didn't happen. ... Computers can't be programmed for every contingency; there is still a need for people to 'babysit' trading."

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