Which U.S. stock exchange closed for several days during the Panic of 1873?

The New York Stock Exchange closed for several days during the Panic of 1873.

The exchange suspended trading from September 20 through September 29, 1873, after the failure of Jay Cooke & Company triggered severe financial stress. The closure was an extraordinary response to disorderly markets, bank runs, and a shortage of available credit. Trading resumed on September 30, but the wider crisis continued.

Jay Cooke’s firm had financed railways, especially the Northern Pacific Railway. When investors became unwilling to buy more railway bonds, the firm could not meet its obligations. Its failure damaged confidence in banks and businesses and helped spread the panic through the U.S. financial system.

The 1873 shutdown is often mentioned alongside the later crashes of 1929 and 1987, but the events were very different. In 1873, the exchange’s temporary closure was a direct emergency measure during a banking and railway-finance crisis. It was not a scheduled holiday and did not mark the end of the Panic of 1873.