US Stock Futures Down As Hurricane Sandy Approaches East Coast

US stock futures are lower this morning. Hurricane Sandy is likely to hit the East Coast late Monday. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 62 points to 12,992.00 and S&P 500 index futures fell 7.10 points to 1,400.50. Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 16 points to 2,643.00. US stocks closed mixed on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 0.03% to 13,107.21, the S&P 500 index dropping 0.07% to 1,411.94 and the Nasdaq 100 index rising 0.06% to 2,987.95. The exchange operator said that the US stock and options markets will be closed on Monday, Oct. 29, 2012 and possibly Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012. CME Group said it will halt equity-index futures and equity-index options at 9:15 a.m. ET. Several companies have postponed their earnings releases. However, the US government will release data on personal income and spending for September on Monday. European markets were lower today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index fell 0.55%, London's FTSE 100 Index dropped 0.49%, French CAC 40 Index declined 0.99% and German DAX 30 index fell 0.60%. Asian markets ended mixed, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rising 0.04%, China's Shanghai Composite dropping 0.35% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rising 0.07%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 0.16% and India's Sensex gained 0.07%.