iStockphoto Some U.S. financial markets will be open, and some closed, on Monday, October 14 in observance of the federal holiday Columbus Day.
The New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ will both be open regular hours. The next time the U.S. stock market will be closed for a holiday is Thanksgiving, Thursday, November 28.
In contrast, SIFMA, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, has recommended that the bond market be closed.
Some investors may be glad for the reprieve. Early October marked the worst start to a quarter since the global financial crisis of 2008. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +1.44% is up 12% for the year to date, the S&P 500 SPX, +1.45% is up more than 15%, and the Nasdaq COMP, +1.64% has popped nearly 18%. All three indexes are flat to lower compared to this time a year ago, however. But volatility, measured by an metric VIX, -8.14% often called the “fear index,” is up nearly 25% over the past month.
While there have been glimmers of hope, including an uptick in early trading on Wednesday, most investor attention remains pinned on the outcome of high-level U.S.-China trade talks this week and an expected interest-rate cut by the Federal Reserve later in the month.
See: Here’s how to play the trade war with ETFs
The longer investor nerves remain jangled, the more doubts creep into the market. “This is serious,” wrote Deutsche Bank Chief Economist Torsten Slok after the release of dismal manufacturing numbers earlier in the month. “There is no end in sight to this slowdown, the recession risk is real.”
Technical trader Mark Newton agreed. “Near-term patterns are growing more negative; stabilization is needed sooner than later,” Newton said Wednesday morning.
That might seem to be the signal from other segments of the markets as well. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield TMUBMUSD10Y, +4.64% is back to its lowest level of the year, just a few basis points above its all-time low. Investors are grabbing safe havens like gold GCZ19, -0.93% , which has gained 15% this year, and cash, fund flows of which are also about 15% higher for the year.
Related: Investors are loading up on cash. That’s not a good sign.
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