Following Tradition, Markets Will Close For Reagan's Funeral
U.S. financial markets, in a tradition that dates back to the 1800s, will be closed Friday for the funeral of former President Ronald Reagan. Some companies also say they will close for the day.
Mr. Reagan died Saturday at the age of 93 after battling Alzheimer's disease.
President Bush ordered government agencies to close Friday as a mark of respect. Also yesterday, the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq Stock Market, other stock markets and the U.S. bond market announced that they would be closed Friday, a national day of mourning. Options and futures markets will do likewise (and off-exchange networks such as Instinet said they wouldn't trade U.S. stocks).
Normal trading will resume on Monday.
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There were a variety of other repercussions from the funeral scheduling. For example, the Senate Banking Committee delayed Thursday's scheduled hearing on Alan Greenspan's nomination for another term as Federal Reserve chairman until Tuesday, June 15, citing the Reagan planning. And the producer-price index will be published at 3 p.m. EDT on Thursday instead of the usual 8:30 a.m. on Friday. The Commerce Department said it will release the latest international trade numbers next Monday, instead of Friday at 8:30 a.m as originally scheduled.
The national funeral for Mr. Reagan will be Friday at 11:30 a.m. at Washington National Cathedral; President Bush will deliver a eulogy and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and Germany's Chancellor Gerhard Schr?der will be among the mourners. The body will then be returned to Mr. Reagan's library in Simi Valley, Calif., for a private burial service. The funeral is closed to the public and no tickets will be sold.
'SPECIAL' NYSE SHUTDOWNS
The U.S. stock market will be closed Friday for the funeral of former President Reagan. A sampling of unscheduled closures of the New York Stock Exchange:
? Aug. 8, 1885 (Sat.): Funeral of former President Ulysses S. Grant (also closed for subsequent presidential funerals)
? Feb. 2, 1901 (Sat.): Funeral of Queen Victoria of England
? Aug. 9, 1902 (Sat.): Coronation of King Edward VII of England
? July 31-Nov. 27, 1914: Closed pending outbreak of World War I\
? April 14, 1945 (Sat.): National Day of Mourning for President Franklin D. Roosevelt
? Aug. 15-16, 1945: V-J Day. End of World War II
? Nov. 25, 1963: Funeral of President John F. Kennedy
? April 9, 1968: National Day of Mourning for Martin Luther King Jr.
? July 21, 1969: National Day of Participation for the moon exploration
? July 14, 1977: New York City blackout
? March 30, 1981: Market closed at 3:17 p.m. due to assassination attempt on President Reagan
? April 27, 1994: Funeral of former President Richard M. Nixon
? Sept. 11-14, 2001: Closed after terrorist attacks
Source: New York Stock Exchange
"President Reagan was a great champion of free people and free markets," said the New York Stock Exchange's CEO, John A. Thain. "He believed strongly in the ability of capitalism to foster opportunity and prosperity. It is appropriate that the nation's markets on Friday will honor President Reagan's contributions to freedom and democracy." President Reagan was the first sitting U.S. president to visit the NYSE floor, on March 28, 1985.
Nasdaq said in a statement: "President Reagan was a great leader in American history, and Nasdaq extends its thoughts and prayers to the Reagan family."
Overseas markets will be open Friday, but trading of foreign shares on U.S. markets will be halted that day.
Not all banks will be closed. Although the Federal Reserve Board will be closed, its 12 regional banks will remain open. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency says national banks will close only on a state-by-state basis where a state holiday is declared. All of Bank of America Corp.'s retail banking centers, for example, will remain open, according to a spokeswoman, although their flags will fly at half-staff until July 4. New York banks said foreign-currency trading will continue but they expect trading to be thin.
The Postal Service said mail won't be delivered Friday. Express mail will be delivered.
Mutual-fund companies said they wouldn't price their fund shares on Friday, but the firms had varying policies regarding their own funds' trading. A spokeswoman for American Century Investments in Kansas City, Mo., said the company will be open Friday and that its international-stock mutual funds will trade non-U.S. shares. American Century's U.S. stock and bond funds won't trade securities on Friday. None of its funds will calculate a new net asset value Friday, so any orders received after 4 p.m. Thursday will receive Monday's closing price. T. Rowe Price Group Inc. in Baltimore won't open for business Friday, and none of its funds will buy or sell securities, a spokesman said.
Wall Street's trade group, the Securities Industry Association, said a number of Wall Street firms have said they aren't deciding until today whether to open for business Friday.
The Supreme Court won't be in session Friday and many lower federal courts have followed its lead and said they will also close Friday. In New York, the federal judge overseeing the trial of the Rigas family, who has been charged with looting Adelphia Communications Corp., canceled Friday's session in observance of the funeral. Most of the major law firms are open for business. Some firms are considering closing their Washington, D.C., offices.
The stock market has closed many times for funerals and other reasons. As far back as August 1885, the exchange closed for the funeral of former U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant, and has done so for subsequent presidential funerals. But it also has closed for the funerals of foreign leaders, at least in the past, such as the closure in 1901 for the funeral of Queen Victoria of England; the Big Board also closed one day in 1902 for the coronation of King Edward VII of England.
On March 30, 1981, the NYSE closed at 3:17 p.m., which was 43 minutes early, due to the assassination attempt on President Reagan.
The last time the exchange closed for a funeral was on April 27, 1994, for the funeral of former President Richard M. Nixon. The last unscheduled closure of any type was on Sept. 11-14, 2001, after the terrorist attacks.
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that its offices will be closed on Friday and that it won't accept electronic filings on that day, treating it as a federal holiday. The SEC said that for purposes of filing materials to its electronic database, known as Edgar, any items required to be filed on or before Friday must be filed by June 14.
Honorary pallbearers for the Reagan funeral are, according to the Associated Press: Frederick J. Ryan Jr., chairman of the board of the Ronald Reagan Foundation; Merv Griffin, entertainer and family friend; Charles Wick, head of the former U.S. Information Agency during the Reagan administration; Michael Deaver, one of Mr. Reagan's top White House advisers; and John Hutton, Mr. Reagan's longtime physician.
纽约证交所、那斯达克市场周五将因里根葬礼而休市
由于美国前总统里根(Ronald Reagan)葬礼的缘故，纽约证交所、那斯达克股票市场、芝加哥期权交易所(Chicago Board Options Exchange)，可能还有其他的地区性和全国性期权交易所周五将休市。
里根是第一个参观纽约证交所的在职美国总统。他参观纽约证交所的时间是在1985年3月29日。
在所有20世纪死亡的前任美国总统的葬礼日，纽约证交所均休市。这一传统最初从美国前总统麦金利(William McKinley)于1901年去世时开始。
那斯达克市场和芝加哥期权交易所的代表证实了休市的消息。费城证交所(Philadelphia Stock Exchange)发言人称，地区性交易所仿效纽约证交所的这一做法是个惯例。
美国证券交易委员会(Securities and Exchange Commission, 简称SEC)也宣布周五停止办公，当天不受理电子方式的文件提交，该日将被视为联邦假日。
总统布什(George W. Bush)下令政府机关在周五不办公，以向上周六去世的前总统里根(Ronald Reagan)表示敬意。
美国证券交易委员会表示，所有需要在周五或之前向电子数据库Edgar提交的材料都必须在6月14日周一或之前提交。
