First/Worst Trading Days of New Year

Trading History

Worst first trading days of a new year for the S.&P. 500 index:

1. January 4, 1932 - down 3.7% in last year of the worst part of the Great Depression (National Bureau of Economic Research estimates recession ran from August 1929 - March 1933).

2. January 2, 2001 - down 2.8%. Recession began in March.

3. January 2, 1980 - down 2.0% as recession began that month.

4. January 3, 1949 - down 1.6%. Recession had begun in November 1948.

5. January 3, 1983 - down 1.6%. Recession had ended in November 1982.

6. January 2, 2008 - down 1.4 percent.

Numbers 1-5: came when the economy was in a recession, or not far from one.

(source: Howard Silverblatt, S&P Senior Index Analyst)