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Happy Memorial Day to our American friends, as the United States honors the men and women who gave their lives in service to enable a great nation to live freely and fully. This special observance began in the years following the Civil War and was originally known as Decoration Day. It gradually came to be known as Memorial Day.

Three years after the Civil war ended, on May 5, 1868, the head of the organization of Union veterans – the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) – established Decoration Day as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers. Maj. Gen. John A. Logan declared that Declaration Day should be observed on May 30. It is believed that date was chosen because flowers would be in bloom all over the country. The passage of the National Holiday Act of 1971 by Congress made it an official holiday (the final Monday of the month).

This important American holiday also marks the unofficial start of summer.

U.S. stock markets of course are closed today. Canadian markets are open but volume and news flow will be lighter than normal.