Market Wrap: Markets Rocked By a Hurricane; Knight Capital Diverts Trading Again; Major Clothing Merger; Icahn Likes Netflix

Market wrap-up for October 31st

End of the Day: S&P 500 up 0.2 to 1,412.16; Dow Jones down 10.8 to 13,096.46; Nasdaq down 10.7 to 2,977.23

The following is a brief summary of events moving markets today:

• 'SandyStorm' aftermath: U.S. markets started trading again following the longest weather related delay in well over 100 years (1888 is what reports out Wednesday have). Hurricane Sandy blew up the Eastern U.S., hitting New York City on Monday. One of the largest storms in a while, and certainly the largest to hit the NYC area, caused the NYSE, Nasdaq, and others to shut down as a precaution.
  
  The three majors indices ended the session mixed, after getting out to a rip-roaring start earlier. Volume was arguably light as many continued without power and were still contending with the fallout from Superstorm Sandy.
  
  
• Doh!: Knight Capital (NYSE: KCG) was one of the more notable firms hit on the hurricane. Reuters noted today that the firm had to reroute trading again, for the second time in about three months, due to a failed power generator.
  
  Affected units for U.S. brokerage were institutional equities sales and trading and its market-making business. Amid the news, Knight shares finished higher on Wednesday's session.
  
  
• We'll rule the business/casual market!: PVH Corp. (NYSE: PVH) will acquire The Warnaco Group, Inc. (NYSE: WRC), the two companies announced earlier today. The holders of Warnaco common stock will receive $51.75 in cash and .1822 of a share of PVH common stock for each share of Warnaco common stock. The transaction values Warnaco at approximately $2.9 billion.
  
  Warnaco brands include Calvin Klein, Speedo, and Chaps.
  
  
• Does he just want a free subscription?: Activist investor Carl C. Icahn disclosed nearly a 10 percent stake in Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX), Wednesday afternoon.
  
  According to a 13D filed with the U.S. SEC, Icahn holds 5,541,066 shares of Netflix, amounting to 9.98 percent of all outstanding common of the company.
  
  
• Reminder here's several more of these by next May: Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) investors got a little wake-up call today, when 229 million shares were unlocked following IPO provisions. Though the lock-up expired on Monday, the two-day delay to trading hampered insiders immediately selling their stake.
  
  For more color, click here.
  
  
• Another good bad probe into Barclays: Barclays (NYSE: BCS) ended the session over 4.5 percent lower following reports that the U.S. is investigating the company over potential anticorruption violations related to raising money from Middle East nations during the early stages of the financial crisis. With its latest quarterly filing, Barclays said, "Subsequent to reporting the investigations of the Financial Services Authority and Serious Fraud Office in July and August 2012 respectively, Barclays has been informed by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that they are undertaking an investigation into whether the Group’s relationships with third parties who assist Barclays to win or retain business are compliant with the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Barclays is investigating and fully co-operating with the DOJ and SEC."
  
  The news comes just months after the firm paid about $450 million to settle LIBOR manipulation probes. For more on those, click here.
  
  
• Still, no definitive 10-Q filing date: OCZ Technology Group (Nasdaq: OCZ) is lower in late trading after the solid-state drive maker issued an update to its quarterly filing status. OCZ initiated "the EOL procedures to discontinue approximately 150 product variations, including reducing the value category by approximately 80 percent. This streamlines OCZ's product offerings to address the mainstream and higher-end consumer products, as well as enterprise and OEM solutions. The Company has also evaluated its inventory and is in the process of making the necessary adjustments, including monetizing some inventory to better align its product offerings and to free-up cash for the business. Excluding production personnel, the Company has reduced its global workforce by approximately 28 percent."

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