Stocks mixed as Wall Street reopens

Stocks have closed mixed on Wall Street after the market reopened following a two-day shutdown caused by Superstorm Sandy.

The Dow Jones industrial average gave up an early gain and closed down 11 points at 13,097.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 edged up less than a point to 1,412. The Nasdaq lost 11 points to end at 2,977.

Home Depot and Lowe’s rose as investors anticipated more business for the home improvement chains as people made repairs in the aftermath of the devastating storm.

Netflix soared after financier Carl Icahn said he had bought a 10% stake in the troubled company.

About three stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange. Trading volume was 3.4 billion shares, in line with the recent average.

Investors were nervous that a flood of orders after two days of pent-up demand from customers might lead to volatile trading. But stock prices barely budged at the opening, and stayed within a tight range throughout the day.

“It’s been very smooth,” Duncan Niederauer, CEO of NYSE Euronext, told CNBC from the exchange floor shortly after the opening bell. “The market-making community is more than staffed enough to be open.”

The last time the New York Stock Exchange closed for two consecutive days because of weather was during the Blizzard of 1888 – 124 years ago. Since power was out in large parts of downtown Manhattan today, the trading floor had to be run on backup generators.

Among the losers were insurers Chubb, Allstate and Travelers. Investors worried that the companies are most likely to suffer losses due to insurance claims. The trio have a large share of the insurance market in areas where Hurricane Sandy hit.

Half of the ten industry sectors in the S&P 500 fell. Health-care stocks were down 0.7%, the biggest drop. Utility stocks led the gainers with a rise of 0.8%.

Stocks flitted between small gains and losses in the last hour of trading. The indexes started the day higher than the close on Friday, the last trading day. Then they dropped, and stayed in the red for much of the day.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite lost 10.72 points to 2,977.23.

The opening followed days of scrambling by NYSE officials to make sure power, telecom connections and computers would be ready. Many workers on the floor use the subways to get downtown, but Hurricane Sandy left the system with its worst damage in its 108-year history. New York’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, said says limited subway service will resume in New York City tomorrow.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.69 % from 1.72 % at midday Monday. Bond trading was closed Tuesday and ended early Monday because of the storm.