Hurricane Katrina (at the time of publishing) has not even passed the half-way mark on its attack on New Orleans, LA. After roughly 45 minutes of an open market we can already see the effects which it is having on the economy.

Already the prices for crude oil have gone up over $3.00 per barrel and have broken the $70.00 mark. This is due to the number of off-shore oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico which drain hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil from deep under the soft sandy bottom of the gulf. At this point damage to these off-shore oil platforms is unknown. We can only hope it is minimal as to void another spike in oil prices.

Additionally the reported on-shore damage to the Louisiana and Alabama area is expected to be astounding. The area’s leading insurance companies, State Farm Insurance and St. Joseph’s should be very active stocks in the coming days. Estimates are in and experts are predicting nearly $25 billion in insurance expenses for Hurricane Katrina.

Other active stocks to watch should be for home improvement centers as people will eventually return to their homes and start the clean up, repair and rebuild process after the disaster. Favorites to watch are Home Depot (HD) and Lowe’s Home Improvement (LOW).

For more information on the effect of Hurricane Katrina on Insurance companies, and damage estimates, check out the following:
http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.asp?feed=OBR&Date=20050829&ID=5068935