Thanksgiving Stock Market: The Sad Truth About Holiday Trading
Is the Stock Market Open on Thanksgiving? Here's a Better Question...
So, Thanksgiving's here again. Time for the usual forced family fun, grotesque displays of consumerism starting earlier every year, and the annual question that pops up like a bad penny: is the stock market even open?
Newsflash: No. It's closed. The NYSE and Nasdaq both take the day off, just like the rest of us—well, some of us. The poor saps working retail on Thanksgiving probably wish they had a union.
The Illusion of Productivity
Let's be real, though. Does it matter if the market's closed for one freakin' day? We're talking about a system that's increasingly divorced from reality anyway. Algorithms trading against algorithms, fortunes made and lost on tweets... it's all a giant casino dressed up in pinstripes. And honestly, what productive thing happens on Wall Street anyway? I mean, really productive.
They'll tell you it's about capital allocation, price discovery, blah blah blah. But let's cut the crap. It's about making money off money, and most of us ain't invited to that party.
And they close early the day after? Give me a break.
Federal Holiday? More Like a Federal Joke
Thanksgiving is a "federal holiday," which means government workers get a paid day off. Lucky them. Private sector? Depends on your boss, offcourse. Some get it, some don't. The whole thing feels like a participation trophy for a system that's rigged against most of us from the start.
The U.S. Office of Personnel Management lists Thanksgiving as one of 11 federal holidays. Eleven days. Out of 365. That's roughly 3% of the year dedicated to... what, exactly? Remembering the Pilgrims? Honoring the genocide of Native Americans? Eating too much turkey and then fighting with your relatives about politics?
I'm not saying we shouldn't have holidays. I'm just saying the whole thing feels… performative. Like we're all pretending to be grateful while the world burns around us.
The Real Question We Should Be Asking
Instead of obsessing over whether the stock market is open, maybe we should be asking: Why is our society so obsessed with money and productivity that we can't even enjoy a single damn day without worrying about it?
Are we really supposed to believe that a closed stock market is some kind of national crisis? See Is the stock market open on Thanksgiving Day? See NYSE trading hours for more information on NYSE trading hours. That the gears of capitalism grinding to a halt for a few hours will somehow bring about the apocalypse?
Maybe—just maybe—we could use a little less "market efficiency" and a little more actual human connection. A little less chasing profits and a little more, I don't know, gratitude.