NYSE Closures Due to Weather Since 1885

Today's weather related closure of the NYSE is an extremely rare event.  In fact, in 127 years the market has only been closed for the whole day due to weather 6 times, and three of those times were on Saturdays (the exchanges were open on Saturdays up until 1952).  There has only been one time, in 1888, that weather caused a multi-day closure.  For reference, there have been roughly 30,000 trading days since 1885, which makes today a black swan of its own--a four sigma event.

Below is a list of all the times that the NYSE has ever been closed or partially closed due to weather.

A list of every day that the NYSE has ever been closed can be found here.  (a lot of history in that list).

Will Sandy Affect Economic Data?

With Sandy shutting down much of the east coast today, it's likely that there will be some effect on economic data, but it's tough to say how much until the storm actually hits.  Typically initial jobless claims can be one of the more sensitive indicators to week to week variance.  In 2005 Katrina caused a clear spike in the national numbers, although I don't think anyone expects Sandy to cause anything close to the damage that Katrina did.

4 Wk Moving Average