US stock markets will close Jan. 9 as the United States mourns Jimmy Carter, the nation’s 39th president who died aged 100 on Sunday evening.
The announcement came just one day after Joe Biden, the current commander-in-chief, announced a National Day of Mourning, with Jan. 9 slated to be the day of Carter’s state funeral.
The flag of the United States displayed above the New York Stock Exchange will fly at half-staff in honor of President Carter throughout the mourning period, the NYSE said in a statement.
“The NYSE will respectfully honor President Carter’s lifetime of service to our nation by closing our markets on the National Day of Mourning,” said NYSE president Lynn Martin.
The Nasdaq, home to many of America’s tech titans, will also close on Jan. 9, according to its president.
“We mourn the loss of President Carter and will be closing our U.S. markets during the National Day of Mourning to celebrate his life and honor his legacy,” said Tal Cohen, who heads the New York-based exchange.
The New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq typically close on the day a former president is laid to rest as a mark of respect.
The last time both exchanges followed this custom was for the state funeral of the late George H.W. Bush, the 41st President of the United States, on Dec. 5, 2018.
They also closed when Ronald Reagan was buried in 2004, and when Gerald Ford passed away two years later.
The tradition began after the 1865 assassination of Abraham Lincoln. The New York exchanges have also shut for natural disasters, and national emergencies such as the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.
Biden announced on Sunday evening Carter that would receive a state funeral in Washington DC next month.
He called his fellow Democrat “an extraordinary leader, statesman, and humanitarian” who “saved, lifted, and changed the lives of people all across the globe.”
In a post on his Truth Social platform, President-elect Donald Trump said the 39th president served the nation during a crucial time.
“Those of us who have been fortunate to have served as President understand this is a very exclusive club, and only we can relate to the enormous responsibility of leading the Greatest Nation in History,” he wrote.
“The challenges Jimmy faced as President came at a pivotal time for our country and he did everything in his power to improve the lives of all Americans. For that, we all owe him a debt of gratitude.”
Biden’s declaration will mean that US flags will fly at half-staff for the next month, while the federal government will also be closed on Jan. 9.
In August 2015, President Carter underwent surgery to remove a mass from his liver and later disclosed that he had cancer.
Later that month, he held a news conference in which he said doctors had found melanoma, “four very small spots,” on his brain.
He would spend the last 19 months of his life in hospice care.
A former governor of his home state of Georgia, he turned 100 on Oct. 1, nearly one year after his wife and ex-First Lady Rosalynn died following a months-long battle with dementia.
They were, before President Carter’s death on Sunday in Plains, Georgia, the longest-married presidential couple and celebrated their 77th wedding anniversary on July 7, 2023.
The Carter Center, a non-profit that the late 39th president founded in 1982, said on Sunday that public observances will be held in Atlanta and Washington. The burial ceremony, in Plains, will be private.
During his stint in the White House from 1977 to 1981, President Carter brokered a historic peace agreement between Israel and Egypt that remains in place to this day.
But he failed to recover from Operation Eagle Claw: a botched attempt by American forces to rescue 53 embassy staff held hostage at the US mission in the Iranian capital, Tehran, in 1980.
The one-time peanut farmer would end up being a one-term commander-in-chief when he was swept aside just a few months later by his Republican presidential challenger Ronald Reagan.
Upon leaving office, Carter dedicated his life to humanitarian causes and fighting climate change, going on to pick up the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.
Shortly after President Carter’s death, his son Chip said: “My father was a hero, not only to me but to everyone who believes in peace, human rights, and unselfish love. My brothers, sister and I shared him with the rest of the world through these common beliefs.
“The world is our family because of the way he brought people together, and we thank you for honoring his memory by continuing to live these shared beliefs.”
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