Trading Calendar – January

The following chart shows the average month-to-date percentage change in the S&P 500 index by trading day during January from 1990 through 2010. Day 0 represents the December close. It shows that the index during January tends to be somewhat negative (the January effect applies mostly to the stocks of small capitalization companies). We have not used data for trading day 22, because most Januarys do not have 22 trading days. Also, sample size is at most only 21 for specific trading days, so these results are only mildly suggestive rather than predictive. For 1990-2009, 12 Januarys have been winners and nine losers.

Return to the Trading Calendar to find other monthly profiles.