For this research, weather forecast models before, during, and after Hurricane Sandy hit ground were analyzed and compared with the stock market during the same time. Some interesting trends arise when looking at stock prices of some companies in the north east region. One of the states that suffered the most devastation after Hurricane Sandy was New Jersey. For this reason, this research looked at 17 established companies located in New Jersey throughout the timeline of Hurricane Sandy, and found that none of the companies studied in this research had major earnings announcements, industry relevant news, or product releases during this period.
Top Publicly traded companies in New Jersey in 2013, by revenue (in billion U.S. dollars)
Aggregate sum of stocks Last Price and Volume traded
From October 1st to December 31st.
By looking at the aggregate sum of 17 companies' stock prices, and by using a stacked area chart, it's possible to get an idea of the total stock price for each week during this period. At the same time, we can see the overall trend of these particular stocks, all located in New Jersey. The stacked area chart shows the behavior of the stocks and their overall performance during this period. Note: The dates on the graph represent the end of each week including open and closed market days. Moreover, to accurately measure change, the net stocks price changes during the same period were plotted on a table showing significant trends that could be related to the weather forecast models.
This research also looked at the volume traded and the volume net changes during the week before Hurricane Sandy hit New Jersey (10/21/2012), the week during Hurricane Sandy (11/01/2012) when the hurricane hit and the markets were closed for two days, and finally, two weeks after Hurricane Sandy, to see how the markets reacted. Further analysis of the stocks' volume traded show similar trends before and during Sandy. It's important to note that the stock volume traded varies mildly during this period (before and during Sandy) until the week of 11/18/2012, after Hurricane Sandy, when there is a significant change in volume traded.
Stocks Last Price Correlation Matrix and Volume traded Correlation Matrix
From October 1st to December 31st.
In order to determine the relationships between stocks in this research, a correlation analysis was performed. The goal was to see if changes in prices and volumes of two stocks during this period were correlated. By doing this, it could be determined if the two stocks' activities were correlated regardless of their respective industry. This research indicated that stock prices between most of the companies in this study were negatively correlated regardless of industry. This research also indicated that in regards to stock volume, significant correlations between companies were sparse. This could be due to the fact that the amount of stock available for each company differed. However, a few companies did share correlated values of traded volume.