Memorial Day and the stock market

Wall Street will pause on Monday to mark the Memorial Day holiday as Americans remember and honor those who died in military service.

There will be no trading in stocks as U.S. equity markets will be closed.

The U.S. bond market will also take the day off, meaning no trading in Treasuries.

Across the pond, the London Stock Exchange is also closed Monday for a bank holiday.

The futures market will be the first to react to the weekend news that a tentative “agreement in principle” was reached Saturday night between Democrats and Republicans to raise the nation’s debt ceiling, averting a potential U.S. default.

An abbreviated schedule will operate as follows:

  • Equity futures trade until 1 p.m.
  • Metals futures will halt at 2:30 p.m.
  • Energy futures trade until 2:30 p.m.

President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., reached the debt ceiling agreement after the two spoke Saturday evening by phone.

A source familiar with the negotiations told FOX News that the agreement includes a two-year budget deal and two-year debt limit increase. It holds spending flat for 2024 and imposes limits for 2025.

Non-defense spending will be roughly flat with current (FY 2023) levels in 2024 when factoring in agreed upon appropriations adjustments.

No changes to Medicaid.

Changes to SNAP reduce work requirements for veterans, people who are homeless and others, while increasing the age for work requirements from 49 to 54.

Wall Street ended the week with solidary gains, boosted by tech stocks.

The higher finish came after a week of anxiety over high inflation, the risk of a U.S. debt default and broadly weak corporate earnings.

The S&P 500 rose 54.17 points, or 1.3%, to close at 4,205.45 and ended the week with a gain of 0.3%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 328.69 points, or 1%, but still finished the week with a loss of 1%.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq notched the biggest gains, rising 277.59 points, or 2.2%, to 12,975.69. The index rose 2.5% for the week as artificial intelligence became a big focus for investors.

Marvell Technology surged a record-setting 32.4% after the chipmaker said it expects AI revenue in fiscal year 2024 to at least double from the prior year.

That follows Thursday’s report from fellow chipmaker Nvidia, which gave a big forecast for upcoming sales related to AI.

Investors have another busy week of economic updates ahead, including more data on consumer confidence and employment.

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