A huge winter storm pummeled the United States, bringing parts of the Midwest to a standstill, delivering another wintry swipe to the Northeast and disrupting flights and other transport.
The storm, touching some 30 states and a third of the U.S. population, stretched from New Mexico to Maine and included another blast of winter in New York City.
Chicago was set to get its biggest snowfall in more than 40 years.
Power was cut to hundreds of thousands of people.
An ice storm wreaked havoc on the morning commute in and around New York City, where roads and sidewalks were treacherously slippery.
The heavily used commuter rail service between New Jersey and New York was suspended due to ice buildup on the overhead power lines, authorities said.
"The weather could prevent traders from getting to their desks, and with fewer traders there will be less volume, and that means greater volatility," said Kim Caughey Forrest, senior equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh.
But the huge storm delivered its strongest punch to the Midwest, dumping as much as three inches of snow an hour on Chicago during most of the night along with winds of up to 40 miles per hour.
More snow was expected on Wednesday, with Chicago forecast to top 20 inches by the end of the day.
Some traders at the world's largest futures exchange, the CME Group in Chicago, stayed overnight in hotels so they could get to work on time.
CBOT's open-outcry trade opening was delayed by 30 minutes from the normal time of 9:30 a.m. (1530 GMT), but Globex electronic trading will open at the normal 9:30 a.m. time, said Chris Grams, CME Group associate director of Corporate Communications.
Some 17 inches of snow had fallen on Chicago by early Wednesday morning and snowfalls of a foot or more were recorded from Oklahoma City to Kansas City and Indianapolis.
Thousands of airline passengers were stranded across the country after major airlines canceled more than 5,000 flights in advance of the storm. There were more flight cancellations on Wednesday.
"Weather-related stocks like airlines may suffer due to the weather conditions but that's stating the obvious," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Avalon Partners in New York.
More than 300,000 customers were without power from Texas to Ohio.
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