The Stock Market Opened Today. But Don’t Expect a Ton of Trading.
U.S. stock exchanges were back open on Friday after they closed early on Wednesday and stayed closed on Independence Day yesterday. With many on Wall Street taking a long weekend, you can expect some thinner trading.
The Dow was down 100 points, or 0.3%. The S&P 500 was up 0.1%. The Nasdaq was up 0.4%.
Take those moves with a grain of salt. Going back to 2008, there have been 22 other times the stock market was open on a Friday following a Thursday holiday. The daily volume for the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Composite were on average 51.4% of a typical day for their respective years, according to Dow Jones Market Data. In other words, you can expect half of the daily trading activity.
Of course, when July 5 is a Friday, it lines up with the release of the monthly employment report. The two other times since 2008 that July 5 was a Friday, trading was 74% of a typical day.
Thin trading doesn’t mean there can’t be a lot of activity. In fact, the fewer trades, the more chance a smaller amount of trades can influence daily moves. The S&P 500 has averaged a move, up or down, of 0.7% on the Fridays after holidays. For July 5, specifically, the average move in either direction is 0.6%.
While daily moves are worth watching, you should keep in mind that whatever happens today can be undone on Monday.