Posted by Ryan Detrick, CMT, Chief Market Strategist
Thursday, May 12, 2022
This is one of the worst starts to a year ever and now we have to worry about Friday the 13th. That’s right, tomorrow, May 13, will be the first Friday the 13th since August 2021. For most people, this is just another day, unless you suffer from triskaidekaphobia—the fear of the number 13. A fear of the actual day of Friday the 13th is called paraskevidekatriaphobia or friggatriskaidekaphobia.
“Fortunately, the unlucky nature of Friday the 13th hasn’t tripped up U.S. stocks recently. In fact, the past four times Friday the 13th came around saw gains,” explained LPL Financial Chief Market Strategist Ryan Detrick. “Now the bad news: May hasn’t been kind to this day, down the past three times.”
As shown in the LPL Chart of the Day, the S&P 500 Index has struggled some when a Friday the 13th takes place during the month of May.
Taking things a step further, do we all hate Monday? Turns out stocks would agree, as this is by far the worst day of the week, with Wednesday actually the best.
2022 has been bad pretty much all around, but it turns out Wednesday is once again the best day of the week, and it really isn’t even close, although it didn’t hold true yesterday.
If it feels like this year hasn’t had many green days, that is probably because that is quite true. In fact, in 2022 only 43.3% (39 out of 90) of the days have seen the S&P 500 Index finish higher. The good news is we expect this number to mean-revert and we’ll see more green days before 2022 is all said and done.
As rough as this year has been, how does this correction stack up with other corrections? Currently, the S&P 500 is down 18% from the January 2 peak and it has been 128 days. Looking at all the corrections since 1980 shows the average one ends at about 88 days, so this correction is getting long in the tooth and could be nearing its conclusion. Additionally, the good news is a year off the correction lows, stocks have been higher 22 out of 24 times with an average gain of 23.0%.
For more on if the Fed put is dead, the economy, and sentiment nearing extremes, please watch the latest LPL Market Signals podcast with Jeff Buchbinder and Ryan Detrick, as they break it all down.
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