Need to make a trade? Stock markets to keep normal hours through Thursday

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

If you feel you’ve got to make a stock sale before the end of 2009 -- say, to recognize a gain or loss for tax purposes -- Wall Street will be accommodating: U.S. stock markets will be open for full sessions today as well as on New Year’s Eve, with trading opening at 6:30 a.m. PST and ending at 1 p.m. PST.

For tax purposes, the Internal Revenue Service considers the trade date of a transaction to be the effective date. So investors who sell a security as late as Thursday would record any gain or loss in this tax year, even if the trade isn’t settled until 2010.

If you’re looking to sell mutual fund shares, however, make sure you know what the fund company requires. Although many fund firms allow shares to be redeemed with a phone call, some require letters to execute a sale.

Fund trades normally are made at the closing price on the day the transaction is executed.

-- Tom Petruno