November 25 November 28, 2008
All time records were set as the S&P500 jumped 12.03 percent this week, while the NASDAQ soared 10.92 percent and the DJIA moved up 9.73 percent. Moreover, the S&P500 and the DJIA closed higher five days in a row; the NASDAQ, however, posted one decline during this run.
The plus part of the good news comes from the five straight positive closes over the past week. There have been just 16 such five-day-runs since January 2000. Three of these occurred in the year 2000, when prices were heading down. But the 12 other strings before todays came during recovery periods and rising prices.
This could be a signal that the present, long down side market is approaching its limit.
Focusing on just the Thanksgiving part of the market, note that the Wednesday before, as well as the Friday after, typically close higher. Indeed these indices have a history of gains in three years out of four. On the other hand, the record for the following Monday favors declines, with these occurring 56 percent of the time.