This story was reported by HARRY BERKOWITZ, SUSAN HARRIGAN, MARK HARRINGTON, PRADNYA JOSHI, KATHLEEN KERR, PATRICIA KITCHEN, TAMI LUHBY, TOMOEH MURAKAMI TSE, LAUREN WEBER and RANDI F. MARSHALL. It was written by Marshall.

While heading into work for public relations firm Porter Novelli, four employees were covered in smoke in the bomb blast at the Edgware Road tube stop in West London, just minutes from the Manhattan-headquartered company's office.

They still came to work, shaken and soot-covered - but with no injuries, said Porter Novelli's London-based managing director, Jean Wyllie.

"We gave them hot, sweet tea, hugs and cuddles, and they're all safe at home with their families now," Wyllie said from London late yesterday.

"The support and messages from the Porter Novelli network, globally, has been absolutely amazing," she said.

At businesses across New York City, executives scrambled to account for staff, close affected offices and determine how to proceed in the days to come.

Three American Express employees were injured in the blast, but they are recuperating, according to spokeswoman Judy Tenzer, who said most of the firm's offices will open today. Few employees of New York companies, however, seem to have been harmed at all.

Thanks to the time difference, many New York executives didn't have to wait long for information. Before even hearing about the bombings when he woke up at 5:45 a.m., Manhattan resident Edmund Bogen received an e-mail from his sole London employee - Gemma Finikin - letting him know she was OK. Bogen and Finikin had just recently opened a London office for Breakfast Network, a Manhattan- based networking service firm that Bogen heads.

The blasts, Bogen said, won't hurt his expansion. "What this really says is, this could be anywhere," Bogen said.

Finikin was running a meeting around the corner from Russell Square, where one underground blast occurred.

"It wasn't until we got downstairs that we realized what happened," Finikin said yesterday. It then took her an hour and a half to walk home. "It's crazy out there," Finikin said.

Just getting to work was an adventure for Mark Najarian, an editor for Dow Jones News Wires. He sat on a halted train two stops from one of the blasts, having no idea what had happened. After trying to find another train or a city bus, he hopped on a tour bus, but that stopped running, too. He eventually got to work - by foot.

Even if the trains were running this morning, Najarian, 49, said he'd find another way to get to work. "Nothing says they can't do this two days in a row," he said.

Spokesmen and women for New York-based investment banks JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, which employ thousands of people in London, said trading and other work continued uninterrupted. One reason: The London Stock Exchange opens at 8 a.m., so many employees were at work well before the bombings occurred.

In a voice mail to Goldman Sachs' London offices, company chief executive Henry Paulson called the regular operations "a strong answer to wanton acts of terrorism or other attempts to disrupt the capital markets," according to a transcript.

While most companies said sales should not be affected by the attacks, insurance firms will likely face financial exposure and a multitude of claims.

"The company will be open tomorrow" in London, said Joe Norton, a spokesman for American International Group, where no employees were injured. "It's too early to tell what the exposure is."

The attacks affected employees here, too. While Manhattan law firm Chadbourne & Parke accounted for its 75 London employees quickly, its Manhattan workers were a bit skittish, given the firm's high-profile Rockefeller Center location.

"When you looked at those images, there's a certain amount of kinship you felt with the British," said managing director Aniello Bianco.

Despite those concerns, business leaders said the attacks will not stem international investment or expansion.

"We, like a lot of companies, need to be where our clients are or where they have needs," said Porter Novelli president Gary Stockman. "It doesn't deter us from being located in those areas. It will keep us vigilant."