The S&P 500 Is On Track To Do Something It Hasn't Done Since 2008

Back to the Future: Part 2

The S&P 500 is on track to finish one year and then start the next year with losing days. 

This would be the first time the benchmark index has done this since 2008.

But Jonathan Krinsky - chief market technician at MKM Partners who alerted us to this factoid - notes that while 2008 brings up all kinds of bad memories for stock investors, these consecutive down days don't really portend doom for the market.

In an email on Friday, Krinsky wrote:

"If the SPX closes down today it would be the first time since 2008 where the last day of the prior year, and the first day of the new year were both down. While that may have appear to have negative connotations, this combination is actually not that unusual nor bearish. In fact, since 1980 the SPX has had this combination 10 times ('89, '93, '94, '95, '97, '98, '99, '01, '05, '07, '08). The average return in those years has been +7.24%, and up 7 of 10 times. Therefore while the declines on Wednesday and today are perhaps surprising, they are not unusual nor particularly bearish from a historical context."

So you could say the S&P 500 is on track to do something it hasn't done since 2008. Or that the S&P 500 is on track to do something that has happened 10 times since 1980. Either way.

Near noon in New York, the Dow was down 31 points, the s&P 500 was down 6 points, and the Nasdaq was down 28 points.

Happy New Year.