Stock Market Holidays

Today is July 5th and here I am, existing in yet another stock market holiday. It's not that I live and breathe the stock market, I'm not even a day trader, it's just that my little portfolio of stocks has become as interesting and as fun as my fantasy baseball team and I truly love the day to day interaction as the stock prices fluctuate each day. I keep an eye on the stocks each day on my iPhone using multiple apps, and at the end of the day there is a nice quantitative result to analyze that lets me know how I am doing. Am I weak for needing these affirmations? I don't think so. It's just another fun thing that adds a little excitement to my daily routines.

That's why these market holidays are such a drag. It's the financial market equivalent to baseball's All Star break. During the All Star break there are days when there are no scores, stats, wins or losses to calculate and aside from baseball there are not too many other sporting events happening. At this point the NBA is finished up, this year's Wimbledon is fresh in the history books, and there won't be any pre season NFL games for another month. I don't like that.

2010 Remaining Stock Market Holidays

Labor Day
September 6
Thanksgiving Day
November 25
Christmas Day
December 24

It is nice to take a day off of work for sure and I do understand that everyone is entitled to a day off of work, but most of the trading done on the New York Stock Exchange, The Amex, and NASDAQ is done electronically. I see no reason why I shouldn't be able to wake up at three in the morning, check the FTSE in London, the Nikkei market in Japan then make a decision to either buy or sell 50 shares of GE (General Electric) before the coffee machine turns on. A 24 hour market makes perfect sense to me. You can go to convenience stores at any time and now a lot of gyms are even open 24 hours; why can't the stock market do the same?

That being said here are the rest of the Stock Market Holidays for 2010 and 2011. The market is closed for trading on these days. If you love the market as much as I do then you know how hard it is to sit through these holidays even though it's a nice day off from my job.

2010 Stock Market Holidays

Martin Luther King Jr. Day
January 17
Presidents Day
February 21
Good Friday
April 22
Memorial Day
May 30
Independence Day
July 4
Labor Day
September 5
Thanksgiving Day
November 24