U.S. stocks indexes plunge in aftermath of superstorm

Waterlogged from Superstorm Sandy and unmoved by a solid October jobs report, U.S. stocks fell sharply Friday. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 139 points as details about the storm’s costs began to trickle out.

Verizon Communications, whose downtown Manhattan facilities are still without power, said the storm would have a “significant” effect on its fourth-quarter earnings. Verizon said it could not yet estimate the cost of the storm, which downed cell towers across the region. Its stock fell 62 cents to $44.52.

“The information coming out from the economic impact of Sandy is a negative,” said Rob Lutts, president of Cabot Money Management in Salem, Mass. “I think the markets are trying to digest that and understand that, so there is a little bit of uncertainty.”

Insurers, the group that will feel the storm’s effects most acutely, plunged en masse as analysts warned that the storm will eat into their income. Raymond James analysts lowered their estimates for Allstate; Barclays analysts cut theirs for Hartford Financial Services Group Inc.

The chairman of Hartford, Liam McGee, told investors on a conference call that the storm’s costs are just beginning to come into focus. “It’s much too early for us to provide data with any level of certainty,” McGee said. He said it wasn’t until Thursday that adjustors were able to view the damage to Long Island, one of the hardest-hit areas.

After a day of steady selling, the Dow Jones industrial average closed down 139.46 points, or 1.1 percent, at 13,093.16. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index dropped 13.39, or 0.9 percent, at 1,414.20. The Nasdaq composite index lost 37.93 points, or 1.3 percent, to 2,982.13.

Hyundai and Kia overstated gas mileage, EPA audit finds

Hyundai and Kia overstated the gas mileage on 900,000 vehicles in the past three years, a discovery that could result in sanctions from the U.S. government and millions of dollars in payments to car owners.

The inflated figures were uncovered by the Environmental Protection Agency in an audit of gas mileage tests by the two South Korean automakers. The agency, which monitors fuel economy, said Friday that it’s investigating how the companies came up with their numbers.

The EPA found inflated gas mileage on 13 models from the 2011 through 2013 model years, including Hyundai’s Elantra and Tucson, and Kia’s Sportage and Rio. The window sticker mileages were overstated on about one-third of the cars sold by the companies in the three years.

Canada’s job creation slows; unemployment stalls at 7.4%

Canada’s strong job creation performance in recent months slowed to a crawl in October, as the economy added a meager 1,800 jobs and the unemployment rate remained at 7.4 percent, Statistics Canada reported Friday.

The agency said that employment in the private sector fell by 20,300 jobs.

Those numbers were offset by strong gains of 36,900 in the public sector while the self-employment category fell by 14,900.