wilburbear it's only starting now... note the news services are ONLY going to give you shots of places HUMANS are safe to stand and shoot video... hence a rolling cart... No news service is going to put a camara team in the middle of 120 mph cross street. So the damage... no one will know until a day or so. Hence we just can't tell how the overall markets will react until they see the TRUE damge... not some camera crew view.
i just went thru a cat 1 katrina ( and it did some serious damage ) and have seen hurricane andrews devastation..this is going to be the biggest hurricane in terms of total damage to hit the US ever...most of the hurricane damage comes from flooding not winds and the area it is hitting right now is all a flood zone...it will be a logistical nightmare for relief and it is going damage alot of roads and block access to very needy areas....i have no idea nor do i care about its impact to the market...i only hope that somehow someway most will be spared this destruction....
In natural disasters, the Fed tends to inject tons of cash so everyone has money - now Bush may sell from the SPR. Without disregarding the numerous personal tragedies which have/will occur, seems like the market assessed the issue pretty well.
Katrina is over. The "rogue shopping cart" has been played over and over. The "South Hollywood" street sign (on CNBC), up to its neck in water, is actually laying down in the street. Thank God it wasn't worse.