Will the Stock Market Close for Juneteenth?

Washington has just added a 12th federal holiday – Juneteenth, or June 19, which commemorates the end of slavery in the U.S. – to the calendar.

Among the questions that have arisen from the speedy advancement of the holiday's legislation is: Will the stock and bond markets be closed for Juneteenth?

Juneteenth, also known as Juneteenth National Independence Day, occurs on the anniversary of Union Army Gen. Gordon Granger's June 19, 1865, proclamation that Texas was freed from slavery – years after the Emancipation Proclamation had outlawed it there and in other Southern states.

Juneteenth has been celebrated unofficially for more than two centuries. But on June 17, 2021, Congress passed legislation making it a federal holiday, and President Joe Biden signed it into law. The Office of Personnel Management says the legislation will take effect immediately, giving federal employees a paid holiday Friday, June 18, as this year's Juneteenth takes place on a Saturday.

At the moment, however, it looks like the stock and bond markets will both be open, at full hours, this Friday, with any changes in operations to go into effect next year.

A representative for the Nasdaq Stock Market said U.S. markets will remain open Friday, but officials were meeting about how to proceed in the future and would update Kiplinger later in the afternoon.

The New York Stock Exchange is expected to be open Friday, too. A representative for Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), which operates the NYSE, said any changes to the schedule would be reflected on its website. As of this writing, the NYSE did not have Juneteenth listed on its 2021 stock market holiday schedule.

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), which makes recomendations for bond market closures, notes that FedWire, the gross settlement funds transfer system operated by the Federal Reserve Banks, will be open Friday. Thus, SIFMA will not recommend the bond markets to close Friday.

However, "going forward, Juneteenth will be incorporated into our holiday schedule," the association says.

Here, we provide a schedule of stock market holidays and bond market holidays for 2021. Please note that regular trading hours for the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Nasdaq Stock Market are 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern on weekdays. The stock markets close at 1 p.m. on early-closure days; bond markets close early at 2 p.m.

2021 Market Holidays

* This is the recommended bond market holiday schedule from the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA). This schedule is subject to change.

Market Holiday Observations

When it comes to the stock and bond markets alike, if a holiday falls on a weekend, market closures are dictated by two rules:

• If the holiday falls on a Saturday, the market will close on the preceding Friday.
• If the holiday falls on a Sunday, the market will close on the subsequent Monday.

Stock and Bond Market Hours

The "core trading" stock market hours for the NYSE and Nasdaq are 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays. However, both exchanges offer premarket trading hours between 4 and 9:30 a.m., as well as late trading hours between 4 and 8 p.m.

Bond markets typically trade between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.

The stock markets close at 1 p.m. on early-closure days; bond markets close early at 2 p.m.