PRESS DIGEST - Wall Street Journal - Oct 31

Oct 31 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories in the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

* Megastorm Sandy's march of destruction claimed at least 43 lives and left more than eight million people without electricity by late Tuesday, in one of the largest storms ever to strike the East Coast.

* U.S. stock markets were preparing to open in the wake of Sandy on Wednesday, ending a shutdown that left investors unable to trade for two days and sparked recriminations over whether Wall Street should have been better prepared to handle the impact of such a storm.

* As the ruinous force of Sandy begins to diminish, the nominal pause it created in the U.S. presidential election campaign is about to fade away.

* Walt Disney Co said it is paying $4.05 billion in cash and stock for Lucasfilm Ltd, the company that produced "Star Wars" and its many sequels and prequels, and added that three new films will join the lucrative franchise, starting in 2015.

* The U.S. housing market continued to gain steam in August, with new data showing that home-price increases accelerated over the month while also spreading to more cities across the country.

* UBS confirmed Tuesday that it will cut risk-weighted assets by around 100 billion Swiss francs by the end of 2017, eliminate about 10,000 jobs across the bank and reorganize its investment bank to deliver more products and services to ultra-wealthy clients.

* Ford Motor Co overcame tough times in Europe to post a $1.6 billion third-quarter profit that showed the widening effect of the auto maker's focus on improving profit across its cars and trucks.

* Deutsche Bank reported a surge in investment-banking revenues in the third quarter as a rebound in client activity fuelled the best quarter ever for its fixed-income division.