FYI: U.S. stock and bond markets on Monday will be closed in observance of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, providing a pause after a bullish tilt on Wall Street to start 2019.
The day honoring the civil-rights leader is traditionally observed on the third Monday in January and commemorates the life of King, who was born Jan. 15, 1929, and assassinated on April 4, 1968.
A market closure for King’s birthday is a relatively new development. When the holiday was signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in 1983 and officially established in 1986, the New York Stock Exchange and other major exchanges remained open, though they observed a minute of silence at noon.
It wasn’t until Jan. 19, 1998, that the NYSE and Nasdaq first said they would take the full day off.
The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, Sifma, has recommended that there be no trading in U.S. dollar-denominated bonds, including the 10-year Treasury note TMUBMUSD10Y, +0.00% in the U.S., as well as in the U.K. and Japan.
The King holiday comes as a partial government shutdown persists. It’s centered on President Donald Trump’s demand for funding for a U.S.-Mexico border wall in exchange for his signature on legislation to fund the shuttered federal agencies and departments and has become the longest such closure on record, entering its 31st day on the King holiday.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/which-stock-markets-and-bond-are-closed-for-martin-luther-king-jr-day-2019-01-18/print
