Which markets are closed on Veterans Day?

Veterans Day – a tribute to the men and women of the US military – begins Monday.

As a result, bond markets will be closed during the federal holidays.

Last year, it was the first time that the bond market did not observe this holiday – at least formally – in about a decade, because it had fallen on a Saturday.

Sifma, the Association of Securities and Financial Markets Industries, has consistently recommended the closing of bond markets based on the New York Federal Reserve's calendar of holidays.

With regard to money transfers, private banks may choose to close, stay open or shorten their hours. The Federal Reserve Bank and all of its offices and branches are closed on all holidays, including Veterans Day.

However, trading on the Dow Jones Industrial Average

DJIA, -0.60%

S & P 500 Index

SPX, -0.80%

and the Nasdaq composite index

COMP -1.55%

will be open.

Veterans Day was once celebrated by the stock and bond markets as early as 1938 (some date back to 1921). In 1938, Veterans Day was declared a legal holiday on November 11, known as the Armistice Day. The stock market had a habit of celebrating Veterans Day with a brief two-minute stop from 1954 to 2006, but that ended in 2007.

Over the years, the date and name of the holiday have changed.

The Armistice calendar has fluctuated: a celebration of World War I veterans and a dedication "to the cause of world peace," according to the website military.com.

In 1954, the term "Armistice" was replaced by "veterans" by the US Congress, in recognition of veterans of the Second World War and the Korean War. November 11 was maintained as a designated day.

In 1968, under the Uniform Fest Act, signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson, Veterans Day was moved to the last Monday of October. Another change followed shortly thereafter. In 1975, President Gerald Ford postponed the holidays to November 11 from 1978, date which is held today. This means that the day the holidays are observed changes, sometimes outside of the normal work week.

So on Monday, when trading the 10-year Treasury Bill

TMUBMUSD10Y, -1.45%

and the 30-year obligation

TMUBMUSD30Y, -1.12%

will not happen, stocks, currencies and other markets, like those of gold

GCZ8, -1.28%

and crude oil

CLZ8, -0.84%

will be actively traded.

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