March 12, 2009
A sharp rebound characterizes the last three days, with todays action pushing the S&P500 up more than four percent. The NASDAQ scored a 3.92 percent move, while the DJIA, in third place, nevertheless soared 3.46 percent.
With todays triple three-day gain, the record shows 48 such events since the turn of the century. Moreover, the vast majority of these some three quarters of the total- occurred when the market was moving higher, and values were larger on December 31 than on the first trading day of the year.
However, the trend failed to continue, on the next day, for the NASDAQ and the S&P500. The NASDAQ fell 28 times, to rising 19 times, on the following day, while the S&P500 had 25 negative closes to 22 positives. Only the DJIA came on stronger, with 27 increases compared to 20 decreases.
Yet a surprising statistic is that the average daily gain in those 11 bad years is substantially larger than in the 36 good years. Indeed the average daily change was negative, compared to the positive average gain in those weak years.
DJIA 3.46 percent
NASDAQ 3.97 percent
S&P500 4.07 percent