This Day in Market History

From Gary Alexander at Investorplace.com:

The best January day in market history was January 3, 2001, when the Dow gained 299.6 points. That was chicken feed compared to the +14.2% ONE-DAY move up in NASDAQ! It came a year after the market’s peak, when everyone thought the worst was over: NASDAQ soared from 2291.86 to 2616.69 on one day. It’s safe to say that kind of a NASDAQ gain won’t happen in one day, any time soon.
January has long been one of the best months of the year. January has seen the most cumulative Dow gains of any month since 1950. Since 1970, January is the best month of the year for NASDAQ and the S&P 500 (it is second-best on the Dow). January is also the most volatile month, with the highest average daily point changes.
Don’t let today’s morning action throw you into a funk. The first trading day is often down early, but the Dow has been up on the first trading day of the year in 10 of the last 15 years. The same is true of the second day of the year — up 10 of the last 15 years. Combined, the two days have been bullish.
Except for last year and 2000, the first two trading days of the year have been net UP in 8 of the last 10 years, and up a rather consistent 1.5% in up years from 1996 to 2002. (That’s about 160 Dow points these days):
1996: +76.95 (+1.5%)
1997: +95.82 (+1.5%)
1998: +70.74 (+0.9%)
1999: +129.76 (+1.4%)
2000: -496.19 (-4.3%)
2001: +158.90 (+1.5%)
2002: +150.64 (+1.5%)
2003: +260.06 (+3.1%)
2004: +90.15% (+0.9%)
2005: -152.23 (-1.4%)
The Three BEST Januarys since 1950 Were All Double-Digit Gains:
As measured by the S&P & The Dow
1987: +13.2% & +13.8%
1975: +12.3% & +14.2%
1976: +11.8% & +14.4%
The WORST Januarys since 1950 Were Single-Digit Losses, all ending in “Zero”
Year… S&P + Dow
1960: -7.1% & -8.4%
1970: -7.6% & -7.0%
1990: -6.9% & -5.9%
GOLD’S GREATEST YEARS OPENED STRONGLY
On January 3, 1974, Gold hit a record $121 an ounce in London, but Americans couldn’t buy it yet. Gold rose to $200 on the last day of of 1974, when Americans were finally allowed to own it.
On January 3, 1980, Gold hit a record high of $634 an ounce, rising rapidly to $850 by Monday, January 21, 1980. After hitting $660 again in the fall, gold hasn’t been over $600 in the last 20 years.

Posted by on January 3rd, 2006 at 3:36 pm


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