Wall Street is looking forward to happy holidays and a farewell to a pandemic-stricken 2021, with the last two weeks in December representing abbreviated sessions.
On Thursday, the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq will end trading at 1 p.m. Eastern Time (and 1:15 p.m. for some options contracts), while the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association recommends a 2 p.m. close for trading in bonds, including the 10-year Treasury note
TMUBMUSD10Y,
In the commodities complex, energy and metals markets, will close about an hour earlier, with trading of metals, including gold futures
GOLD,
on Comex, set to end at 12:30 p.m., and West Texas Intermediate crude-oil trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange
CLG21,
slated to wrap up at 1:30 p.m.
The U.K. market, with the FTSE 100
UKX,
down 0.5% on the day, closes at 12:30 p.m. local time Thursday and will be closed through the Boxing Day holiday on Dec. 26. Boxing Day is observed in the U.K. and other British Commonwealth countries, including Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
U.S. stock markets, energy and gold futures, meanwhile, will be open for the full trading day on New Year’s Eve, while Sifma recommends a 2 p.m. close for the bond market.
Most global financial markets will be closed on Friday, Jan. 1, 2021, for New Year’s Day.
Equity markets are aiming to close out December and 2020 on a high note after a historic, gut-wrenching year that will go down in the annals of the market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
was set to close out the month up 2%, with a 5.9% year-to-date gain so far, the S&P 500 index
SPX,
was looking at a 2% rise in December and an over 14% annual return, while the Nasdaq Composite Index
COMP,
was on track for a 4.5% rally on the month and a nearly 42% year-to-date rise.