What are the stock market holidays for 2023? You can answer the question of when is the stock market open or closed at any point throughout 2023 with our handy guide to the schedule of stock market and bond market holidays across the remainder of this year.
The list of stock market holidays actually grew by one in 2022.
That’s because Congress voted in 2021 to make Juneteenth — the June 19 holiday commemorating the end of slavery — the 11th federal holiday. When President Joe Biden signed the bill, Juneteenth became the first new federal holiday since Martin Luther King Jr. Day., which was signed into law in 1983.
2023 Stock Market Holiday
Stock market holiday schedule
The NYSE and Nasdaq typically observe 10 stock market holidays each year. Those holidays are:
- New Year’s Day
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
- Presidents’ Day
- Good Friday
- Memorial Day
- Juneteenth
- Independence Day
- Labor Day
- Thanksgiving Day
- Christmas Day
However, in certain circumstances, the stock market will close early in the days preceding or following market holidays. For instance the NYSE and Nasdaq close at 1 pm the day after Thanksgiving, on Christmas Eve (if it falls on a weekday) and on July 3 (if both it and July 4 fall on a weekday).
Bond market holiday schedule
The bond markets observe the same 10 stock market holidays, as well as one additional holiday:
- Columbus Day
The bond markets also observe several early closings at 2 pm each year:
- The Friday before Memorial Day
- The Friday preceding Independence Day
- Black Friday, or the day after Thanksgiving
- Christmas Eve (In 2023, bond markets will close early on Friday, December 22)
- New Year’s Eve (In 2023, bond markets will close early on Friday, December 29)
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
For those wanting answers to other questions, like what time does the market open, regular stock market trading hours for the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Nasdaq Stock Market are 9:30 am to 4 pm on weekdays. Bond markets usually trade between 8 am and 5 pm.
The stock markets close at 1 pm on early closure days. Bond markets close early at 2 pm (All times Eastern unless otherwise indicated.)
Many folks might wonder why the stock market offers such limited hours when there are certainly people who want to buy and sell at all times of the day. One of the main reasons for this is “liquidity,” which is how much buying and selling is going on at a given time.
The more liquidity in a particular security, the likelier you are to get a fair price on it; the less liquidity, the more likely you might have to settle for a less-than-ideal price to finish off a transaction.
“For the market to function effectively, you need buyers and sellers,” says Charles Sizemore, principal of Sizemore Capital Management. “This is why the stock market has set hours that happen to correspond to the East Coast workday. You want the maximum number of traders buying and selling at the same time.
If you were at an estate auction selling your grandmother’s antiques, you’d want a lot of bidders there. It’s the same rationale in the stock market.”
And there is trading that is done outside of these regular hours. On days with a regular session, for instance, there is “pre-market” trading. This occurs before the market, and while hours vary, they can extend as early as 4 am and run until the opening bell rings at 9:30 am. There is also “after-hours” trading, which happens after the market closes and typically runs from 4 pm to 8 pm.
But just because you can trade outside of regular stock market trading hours doesn’t necessarily mean you should. Investors should be aware that volume and liquidity tend to be lower in pre-market and after-hours trading.
Temporary market stoppages
The stock market rarely closes unexpectedly, but so-called circuit breakers do occasionally trigger temporary trading halts.
Circuit breakers were first introduced after the Black Monday crash of October 1987. The Dow dropped almost 23% in a single session, which stands as a record to this day.
Circuit breakers are intended to curb panic selling. Like calling a timeout in sports, a temporary pause in trading allows market participants to catch their breath, though it doesn’t necessarily keep stocks from declining once trading resumes.
There are three levels of circuit breakers tied to how steeply the market declines:
- A Level 1 market-wide circuit breaker is tripped if the S&P 500 falls 7% from its previous close.
- A Level 2 circuit breaker comes into effect when the market plunges 13%.
- A Level 3 circuit breaker kicks in if the market tanks 20%.
A Level 1 or Level 2 breach halts trading for a minimum of 15 minutes. A Level 3 rout halts trading for the remainder of the trading day.
Level 1 and Level 2 circuit breakers can be triggered between 9:30 am and 3:25 pm. A Level 3 breach can be triggered at any time.
Extraordinary stock market closures
The market has also shut down a smattering of times throughout history following catastrophic events. The attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon prevented the market from opening on September 11, 2001, and the exchanges remained shut until September 17.
Prior to that, you have to go back to World War I for an example of the stock market shutting down. The outbreak of hostilities in Europe led The New York Stock Exchange to close up shop from July 31 to November 28, 1914.
The market went dark only two other times in its history. The NYSE closed for 10 days during the Panic of 1873; and it took a week off trading to mourn the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln in 1865.
Additionally, markets will typically close when a former president dies, most recently being shuttered for the funeral of former President George H. W. Bush in December 2018.
Data provided by the NYSE and SIFMA.
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