US stocks slide Wednesday

U.S. markets re-opened Wednesday after a nearly unprecedented two-day derailment due to a massive hurricane that swept the East Coast. Hurricane Sandy forced the closure of equity markets for two days -- the first multiple-day weather related closure since 1888. Concerns arose over emergency systems and why they did not rise to the occasion. But the other debate centered around re-booting the massive financial system of which New York City is the epicenter. But the big trading boards at the New York Stock Exchange flickered back on at 9:30 a.m., with emergency generator power, and just-try-to-stop-us New York was back on line. Equity markets were higher across Asia and Europe. In early afternoon trading on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average shed 30.58 points, 0.23 percent, to 13,076.63. The Nasdaq composite index shed 16.18 points, 0.54 percent, to 2.971.77. The Standard & Poor's 500 index gave up 2.71 points, 0.19 percent, to 1,409.23. The benchmark 10-year treasury gained 7/32 to yield 1.696 percent. The euro rose to $1.2967 from Tuesday's $1.2959. Against the yen, the dollar rose to 79.86 yen from 79.62 yen. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index added 0.98 percent,m 86.31, to 8,928.29. In London, the FTSE 100 index lost 1.15 percent, 67.20, to 5,782.70.