NYSE to Close Jan. 9 for Jimmy Carter Memorial

In a rare display of solemnity, the New York Stock Exchange will shut its famously avaricious doors on Thursday, Jan. 9, for a national day of mourning honoring former President Jimmy Carter. Nasdaq will join the pause, presumably to avoid looking like the soulless tech bro of exchanges, while bond traders (ever the contrarians) will still work a half day. Somebody’s gotta price the debt, even during a funeral.

This isn’t just a random PR play by the financial world’s oldest frat house. The NYSE has been closing up shop for presidential passings since 1885, when it honored Ulysses S. Grant, a man who famously loved himself some ETFs. The tradition persisted, most recently in 2018 for George H.W. Bush, who Wall Street probably liked because he was the last president anyone remembers who used the phrase "prudence."

Jimmy Carter, the 39th president and noted peanut farmer-turned-humanitarian legend, passed away at 100 on Sunday. His funeral will take place at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., with President Biden declaring Jan. 9 a day of mourning and slapping a 30-day half-staff mandate on flags everywhere. Carter’s legacy is celebrated for peacekeeping and philanthropy, two things that have nothing to do with equity derivatives but apparently resonate enough to silence the bell at 11 Wall Street.

NYSE closures outside of holidays are rare but let’s be real: most traders will spend their “mourning” catching up on fantasy football trades and macroeconomic gossip. And based on today’s action (the Dow falling by as much as 700 points in morning trading)  the real honor will be seeing the Dow stay politely flat in deference to the occasion.