Superstorm Sandy impacts business in Chicago

October 30, 2012 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- Hurricane Sandy has devastated the New Jersey shore, causing flooding and power outages and killing at least 40. The superstorm has also impacted business on the East Coast and beyond.

The Mazza family has been in the wholesale seafood business for decades. They are based in Boston but a year ago, two brothers opened a wholesale/retail operation in Chicago, the New England Seafood Company located in the 3300 block of Lincoln Ave.

Jeff Mazza says the East Coast warehouse ships seafood to Chicago daily. On Sunday, they made arrangements for a truck to ship the supply. It won't arrive until Wednesday morning

"We flew in late Sunday night some seafood, we normally don't," he said. "There is nothing to worry about. We still will have fresh fish coming in."

Mazza says the restaurant has a shortage of tuna and ground fish and there are only a few lobsters left in the tank.

"Our tank holds over 100 pounds of lobsters. It only has three lobsters in there today. That will affect us for today's business," Mazza said.

At the Chicago Board of Trade, Wednesday looked like any other day. The storm does not appear to have much of an effect on its operations.

"It is actually a little bit quiet. Equity futures closed a little bit early today because of cash markets in New York. Interest rate products have seen a pretty much arranged trade," said John Brady, managing director, RJ O'Brien and Associates.

Superstorm Sandy has had a devastating effect on the financial markets in New York. The big question is what will be the long term effects of this super storm

"We have been cutting edge in technology for a number of years. Tomorrow with the opening of the exchanges in the greater New York area, we hope their technology is up to par and that will be a test for them globally," said Brady.

Brady says it is not just the storm that is keeping traders mesmerized and not doing much. The election is a week away. Many traders are not concerned about putting out big decisions right now.

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