Wall Street reopens after shutdown US equity markets closed fractionally higher after trading in negative territory most of the day, following a two-day closure and recorded their first monthly decline since May. The main US markets were shut on Monday and Tuesday after flooding of the New York financial district following hurricane Sandy prevented thousands of workers from reaching their offices when transit along the east coast was crippled. The reopening came as a relief to investors as most portfolio managers tried to reduce their exposure to stocks before the key US jobs data on Friday and the presidential election next week. Scott Wren, senior equities strategist at Wells Fargo Advisors, said: "Traders do not want to have big positions going into the election so we will probably see more of the same down trend we saw in the past few weeks." As volumes rose after the first few hours of trading, volatility returned to markets, sending the CBOE VIx index, dubbed "Wall Street's fear gauge" 4 per cent higher to 18.5. Modest opening gains on the benchmark S&P 500 index fizzled out after the first hour and stocks traded lower most of the day. However, late activity brought the index fractionally up to 1,412.16. Still, the index fell 2 per cent over the month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.1 per cent lower at 13,096.54 and lost 2.5 per cent over the month. The session was dominated by sharp moves in shares of companies reporting earnings results. GM shares jumped after the carmaker's third-quarter results beat analysts" estimates. The largest US carmaker by revenues earned solid profits in the domestic business offsetting losses in Europe. The stock rallied 9.5 per cent to $25.50. Rival Ford's shares also rallied, up 8.2 per cent to 11.16, with investors responding to the carmaker's earnings results released on Tuesday while markets were still closed. The company reported robust profits, also driven by sales in North America, and earnings per share beat consensus estimates. Eaton, the industrial components maker, cut forecasts for growth in the markets that it serves for the third successive quarter on Wednesday as it announced third-quarter net income 5 per cent below the same quarter last year. However, shares in the company rose 4.6 per cent to $47.22. Genworth Financial shares rallied 8.8 per cent to $5.86 after the insurer reported a profit as losses at its mortgage unit narrowed. Quanta Services shares also soared, rising 9.9 per cent to $25.93 as the company specialising in offering infrastructure solutions to power companies reported estimate-beating third-quarter results. Investors also pushed the price up as rebuilding and clean-up measures after the storm would bring more business for the company. MasterCard shares rose as the credit card-payment company announced its third-quarter results, beating consensus estimates. The stock added 1.8 per cent to $460.93. In contrast, Western Union shares plunged 29 per cent to $12.73 after the money transfer and payments company cut its full-year forecast. The company also reported its third-quarter results on Tuesday during the shutdown of markets. The stock has been downgraded by several analysts. The technology-heavy Nasdaq closed 0.4 per cent lower at 2,977.23 and lost 4.5 per cent in October. Apple shares fell 1.4 per cent to $595.32 after the company's chief executive Tim Cook reshuffled his top management, replacing senior software executive Scott Forstall on Monday. Retail head John Browett also left abruptly after just six months in the job. Shares in the most valuable company on the S&P 500 index fell 10.8 per cent in October. Facebook shares dropped 3.8 per cent to 21.11 as the second lock-up period expired. The expiration coincided with the storm, and Wednesday was the first day that the company's employees were able to sell about 230m shares. Shares in Netflix soared 13.9 per cent to $79.24 after reports that activist investor Carl Icahn bought a near 10 per cent stake in the video content streaming company. Banking stocks were among the best performers with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley leading gains. Shares in Goldman rose 2.5 per cent to $122.39 while Morgan Stanley added 2.3 per cent to $17.38. JPMorgan added 1.3 per cent to $41.68. Some companies that were originally due to release results on Wednesday were forced to postpone their announcements. Among those, McGraw-Hill Companies, owner of Standard & Poor's, and Ralph Lauren both rescheduled for Friday.