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Why Close the Markets Today?

Posted Mar 21, 08 3:10 PM CDT in Business 

(Newser) – The Big Board is closed today—but the reason is open to some debate, Bloomberg reports. The last time the markets opened on Good Friday was 101 years ago, when they saw one of two huge crashes that made up the Panic of 1907. Fear of repeating that catastrophe may be what keeps traders home, but it may also be the lasting influence of Irish Catholic execs.

“It's closed on Good Friday because of the panic of aught-seven,” one second-generation trader recalls his father saying. Others reason that's hogwash: "The financial institutions close on holidays, frankly, out of the belief that there is insufficient demand, insufficient trading activity and insufficient business,'' said one academic. Still, today's break is the only one that's not also a federal holiday.

Source Bloomberg

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Pedestrians pass by the New York Stock Exchange March 11, 2008 in New York City.   ((Mario Tama/Getty Images))
A Wall Street sign is seen outside the New York Stock Exchange March 11, 2008 in New York City.   ((Mario Tama/Getty Images))
A trader stands outside the New York Stock Exchange February 29, 2008 in New York City.   ((Mario Tama/Getty Images))
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Dow Jones • S&P 500 • Nasdaq • financial markets • New York Stock Exchange • superstition • Good Friday


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