Market Performance During the Last Week of the Year

jamesmith

Market Performance During the Last Week of the Year
Friday, December 23, 2011 at 02:20PM

Last week we noted that the week before Christmas has historically been positive for the market, but the week after Christmas has been even better.  As shown in the table below, the S&P 500 has averaged a significant gain of 0.93% in the last week of the year with positive returns 77% of the time (64 out of 83).  This compares to an average of +0.15% for all weeks since 1928.

Over the last 20 years, the average gain during the last week of the year has been smaller at +0.47%, but this is still three times as strong as the average for all weeks throughout the year.  Let’s hope the market can put in a strong performance next week and finish nicely in the black for the year.

Happy Holidays from Bespoke!