Stocks just hit an ugly streak that recently has only happened in financial crises

The Dow Jones industrial average just closed in negative territory for the eighth day in a row, the first such losing streak since the European debt crisis was at its peak.

According to Bespoke Investment Group, this is the first eight day sell-off since August 2011, when the world was concerned about the credit worthiness of some of the largest economies in Europe.

The current sell-off comes on fears that the tax cuts and economic stimulus promised by President Donald Trump may not come as expected after the GOP was defeated in its attempt to repeal and replace Obamacare.

Additionally, the only other times since 1990 that we have seen 8 down days for the Dow were in October 2008 and September 2001. Prior to 1990, it happened three times in the 1980s and much more frequently in the 1960s and 1970s.

Despite this losing streak, the pain hasn't been too severe. Monday's 45-point drop has the Dow down 400 points, or 1.9%, during the eight-day slide, said a note from Bespoke.

"What's interesting about the current seven-day streak is that it's the third in the last year," said Bespoke's note sent out to clients early on Monday. "Also, with a drop of 1.68%, it's the second mildest seven-day losing streak since WWII weaker than only the 1.38% seven-day decline we saw last August."

As we have noted before, this may simply be a historical quirk and past occurrences don't necessarily indicate any pattern for the future, but it is at least worth making mention of the uncommon down streak.