10 Things You Need To Know This Morning

Mamta Badkar

 Oct. 29, 2012

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Good morning. Here's what you need to know.

• Asian markets were mostly lower in overnight trading with the Shanghai Composite down 0.35 percent. Europe is selling off and all U.S. stock markets are closed today as the east coast braces for Hurricane Sandy.

• On the east coast all eyes are on Hurricane Sandy, the biggest storm in a 100 years that is expected to make landfall in New Jersey late Monday night. 10 million people are expected to lose power, according to Johns Hopkins engineer Seth Guikema. 375,000 people in low-lying parts of New York have been evacuated according to Bloomberg.

• Sicilians voted on Sunday for a regional government and early polls showed a lead for anti-establishment party 5 Star Movement, according to Reuters. Meanwhile, former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi threatened to oust the Monti government increasing uncertainty over the nation's governance and contributing to the rout in the Italian market.

• UBS shares surged over 5 percent after reports that the bank was cutting 10,000 jobs and splitting up its fixed-income operations into a separate division that would eventually be wound down.

• Honda posted a 36 percent jump in profits in the July-September quarter as the Japanese automaker recovered from the impact of last year's tsunami. But Honda lowered its annual forecast to 4.1 million vehicle sales because of the current dispute with China over the Diaoyu-Senkaku islands. 

• Personal income and outlays for September will be out at 8:30 a.m. ET, followed by the Dallas Fed manufacturing survey at 10:30 a.m. ET. Expectations are for personal income to rise 0.4 percent month-over-month, and for the business activity index to rise to 2.

• Italian prime minister Mario Monti and Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy are meeting in Madrid today. The two are expected to hide a growing rift over Europe's new bailout strategy.

• India's finance minister outlined a plan to reduce India's deficit to 5.3 percent of GDP this fiscal year, and 4.8 percent in the next fiscal year.

• percent gain. The end of government subsidies for car purchases dampened demand.

• UK home prices fell 0.1 percent month-over-month in October, and were down 0.4 percent from a year ago, according to property research group Hometrack.