Hurricane Sandy caused massive disruptions to U.S. businesses and threatened billions of dollars in damage to a region packed with corporate headquarters, retail stores and transportation hubs, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Estimates for the financial consequences of the storm in the U.S. run to the billions of dollars. Disaster-modeling company Eqecat said the storm could cost the insurers between $5 billion and $10 billion. The Global Business Travel Association last year estimated that a large hurricane costs airlines, Amtrak, rental car companies and hotels nearly $700 million in lost or deferred business-travel spending. The broader impacts on the U.S. economy should be "noticeable but temporary," said economists at Moody's Analytics.
