The US financial markets will pause on Monday in view of Presidents Day – which is not technically the name of the holiday.
The New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq will close on February 15. And the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, or Sifma, recommends not to trade in dollar-denominated securities, meaning the close 10-year Treasury TMUBMUSD10Y,
– as well as money market interest rates and certificates of deposit – will join the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA,
the S&P 500 index SPX,
and the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP,
in a static state.
And futures and options trading on CME Group CME,
The exchanges will also be stopped on Monday. In other words, there will be no settlements in gold futures trading GCJ21,
or crude oil CL.1,
However, traders will be able to trade commodities on the Globex platform, with a break starting after 1pm Eastern.
So here’s the skinny one on so-called presidents day. According to the Library of Congress, Congress declared Washington’s birthday a public holiday in 1879. The first president of the republic was born on February 22, 1732.
A number of sources indicate that the holiday was initially celebrated only in the District of Columbia, but was generally recognized as a federal holiday in 1885, marking the first time an American person was commemorated through a public holiday.
The Uniform Holidays Act of 1968 changed the day of remembrance to the third Monday of February. The Library of Congress website states that the designation of the day has never been formally changed to Presidents Day, but is often referred to by that name because February 12 is the birthday of the 16th US President, Abraham Lincoln.
The holiday is still often referred to as Washington’s birthday and is recognized by that name at ICE, owned by Intercontinental Exchange Inc.
New York Stock Exchange.
It’s that history of recognizing one president initially and later two presidents, or the presidency in general, that can be the cause of the style variations that often appear in written references to Presidents Day – or alternately President’s Day or President’s Day.
Presidents Day is the preferred style for journalistic standard setters like the Associated Press Stylebook (whose Twitter account tends to tweet a reminder annually) and The Wall Street Journal’s style guide.
Meanwhile, Canadian markets are closed due to Family Day, which coincides with US Presidents Day and falls on the third Monday in February. Trading in European markets and movements in benchmarks such as the Stoxx Europe 600 SXXP,
and the UK FTSE 100 UKX,
are scheduled to start on Monday as usual.
Asian markets, however, will be largely closed for the Lunar New Year, turning the page from the COVID-stricken Year of the Rat to the Year of the Ox, which officially began on February 12. The Shanghai Composite Index SHCOMP,
the CSI 300 000 300,
the Shenzhen Composite Index 399106,
and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index HSI,
is closed on monday.
The Chinese stock exchanges pause from February 11 to 17, while the Hong Kong markets are closed Friday to Monday.
Markets in Asia and the US have boomed in hopes of better economic times as the world seeks to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic that was first identified in December 2019 and has since resulted in 108 million cases worldwide – 27 million in the US. , along with 475,000 American deaths, according to data collected by the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.