Wall Street holiday: US stock markets will remain closed for trading on Thursday, January 9, 2025, to observe the US National Day of Mourning in honor of former US President Jimmy Carter, who died on December 29, 2024, at the age of 100. According to the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, trading activity on the Nasdaq and New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) will remain closed on account of Mourning Day.

US President Joe Biden directed January 9, 2025, to be the National Day of Mourning for Jimmy Carter, who served as the 39th US President from the Democratic Party and received the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize for his humanitarian work. The NYSE and the Nasdaq announced the closures on Monday, December 30, a customary gesture to honor deceased presidents.

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Wall Street Holiday: US markets closed on January 9

The Nasdaq said it would close trading of all US equities and options on January 9. The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association has recommended that the US bond market close early on January 9 at 2:00 p.m. ET/1900 GMT. The CME Group Inc said interest rates and agricultural markets will close at 1:15 p.m–New York (NY) time on January 9.

CME Group Inc. also said its equities derivatives market will start trading as usual at 6 p.m. in New York on January 8 and close at 9:30 a.m. the following morning. Stock futures trading will resume at 6 p.m. on January 9.

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NYSE said in a statement, “The NYSE Group markets that will close in observance of the National Day of Mourning for President Carter are the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE American Equities, NYSE American Options, NYSE Arca Equities, NYSE Arca Options, NYSE Chicago and NYSE National.”

“Jimmy Carter, with humble roots as a farmer and family man, devoted his life to public service and defending our freedom,” said Lynn Martin, President of NYSE Group. “During his noteworthy post-presidential life, President Carter left an enduring legacy of humanitarianism. The NYSE will respectfully honor President Carter’s lifetime of service to our nation by closing our markets on the National Day of Mourning,” added Martin.

The US flag displayed above the NYSE will fly at half-staff in honor of President Carter throughout the mourning period. Federal offices will also be closed on January 9 in honor of Carter’s death. The market closures are part of a long-standing American tradition in which financial institutions halt operations to honor the passing of a President.

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The last time Wall Street closed trading activity at its stock exchanges, derivates, and bond markets to honor the passing of a former president was in December 2018, when former President George H. W. Bush passed away. 

It is rare for the stock exchange to close on non-holidays. The death of a president has long been an exception, beginning with the April 1865 assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Along with honoring the deaths of former presidents, the exchange closed trading in 1968 following Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination.

Since then, markets have closed to commemorate the passing of 21 US presidents. Other deaths have also prompted the NYSE to close, including those of Queen Victoria and John Pierpont Morgan. Markets have also shut for natural disasters, national emergencies and assaults like the Wall Street bombing of 1920 and the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

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National Day of Mourning to honor former US President Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter, the longest-living US president, died at his home in Plains, Georgia, on Sunday at 100. Carter’s official state funeral will be held on January 9 at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.

US President Joe Biden ordered all national flags to be flown at half-staff starting on Sunday and continuing for the next 30 days. “I call on the American people to assemble on that day in their respective places of worship, there to pay homage to the memory of President James Earl Carter,” said Biden.

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Carter, a Democrat, became president in January 1977 after defeating incumbent Republican President Gerald Ford in the 1976 election. His one-term presidency was marked by the highs of the 1978 Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt, bringing some stability to the Middle East. 

President Carter served from 1977 to 1981. He was also a graduate of the United States Naval Academy, a Navy veteran, served as the 76th Governor of Georgia, and founded the Carter Center, where he served for decades after his presidency advocating for democracy, public health and human rights.

In recent years, Carter experienced several health issues, including melanoma that spread to his liver and brain. Carter decided to receive hospice care in February 2023 instead of undergoing additional medical intervention.