Prices moved higher for the second day in a row, a pattern seen almost as often during expansion as in contractions. There is a significant difference though: on the following day, prices continued higher for a third day more frequently during bull markets.
Today’s gains, though, are quite small, with the S&P500 adding just .18 percent. There are just 403 days with lesser gains, but 2000 have increased more over the last five price cycles.
December trading days, though, are marked by changes smaller than during the other eleven months of the year. Our diagram reveals that the average positive change in December is only .12 percent. It also shows the change for each trading day of this month since the beginning of the 1996 price expansion.
Note that price changes are far smaller during bull markets; they are also less variable when prices are heading higher, with the bear market December variance more than double the bull market’s.
DJIA .03 percent
NASDAQ .15 percent
S&P500 .18 percent