September 14, 2011 Third Straight Gain
Averages gained more than one percent today, the third consecutive positive session. This is the fifth repeat of three increases in a row since June 29. The last one occurred just ten trading days ago, on August 30. Note how extraordinary are these repeats: only 70 such closes exist in the 3,000 market days since the beginning of 2000.
Notably these three-in-a-row gains happen when prices are moving higher. We find sixty-six during the two most recent expansions; just 13 appear in the 2000-2003 and 2007-2009 declines.
As for the following day, in the past these were divided almost equally between a fourth straight gain and a decline. Yet curiously, positive next days outnumbered declines when prices were heading down. Similarly, during bull markets, there were 20 percent more negative than positive closes.
DJIA 1.27 percent
NASDAQ 1.60 percent
S&P500 1.35 percent