At 6 GMT Friday October 2nd, hurricane Joaquin was located over the eastern Bahamas, between Long Island and Crooked Island.

Maximum sustained wind speeds (1-minute mean) reported by the National Hurricane Center were about 115 knots (about 215 km/h), which makes Joaquin a category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale. The strong intensification of Joaquin over the last days was partly due to the very warm waters (about 30 degrees Celsius) around the eastern Bahamas. Joaquin is now expected to move north-northwest and pass between Bermuda and Cape Hatterass over the next 2-3 days. A high pressure system over eastern Canada is blocking Joaquin from moving further west into the US.
While Joaquin is moving north, it will be passing over cooler water and will experience higher shear, which will lead to a weakening of the storm. While there is still considerable uncertainty in the forecast tracks, it currently seems unlikely that Joaquin will heavily affect the US coast.

We are continuously monitoring the situation. We will update you, should there be any major changes in forecasts.

We currently do not expect this event to impact any of our portfolios.