S&P 500 Soared 7% in Summer, Shifts Weakness to October | Wayne Whaley

For this study, summer is defined as the three months from June to August. Historically, the S&P 500 index tends to show modest performance during the summer, with an average gain of 1.43% since 1950 over these three months. In 2024, however, the S&P 500 achieved an impressive 7.03% gain during the summer, with individual gains of 3.5% in June, 1.1% in July, and 2.3% in August.

 

The weakest seasonal period of the year historically occurs in the second half of September. However, strong summers often push much of the traditional September weakness into October, specifically from October 18th to October 28th. During this period in the years with a summer gain of over 5%, the S&P 500 has averaged a loss of 2.53%, with a performance record of 4 gains and 19 losses.

This period is followed by one of the strongest periods of the year, from October 28th to November 5th. In years with a summer gain of over 5%, this timeframe has averaged a gain of 2.61%, with a performance record of 21 gains and 1 loss.

Reference:
Wayne Whaley (August 31, 2024) - Five Percent Summers. 

 

4-Year Presidential Election Cycle 1949-2020 vs 2021-2024

— Jeff Hirsch, August 19, 2024

S&P 500 Strength into May 1st & Weakness through Mid May | Larry Williams

Larry Williams expects U.S. stock market strength through May 1 (Wed) and weakness to follow through the middle of May.

 

That weakness could be followed by a relief rally into early June, then another leg down in July. “I am heavily short here,” he says. He expects a strong end of the year as a rally gets under way in early September. 

Quoted from:
MarketWatch (April 23, 2024) - Ralph Acampora, Larry Williams and Vance Howard see market weakness ahead. 

 

See also:
Larry Williams (December 18, 2023) - 2024 US Stock Market Outlook.

Crude Oil's 10-Year Leading Indication for US Stock Market | Tom McClellan

One of the big picture forecasting tools is crude oil prices as a leading indication for the overall stock market. The first chart shows crude oil prices back to 1890 compared to the Dow Jones Industrial Average plotted on logarithmic scales. The price of crude oil is shifted forward by 10 years. The correlation isn't always perfect, but generally speaking, when there is a rise in crude oil prices, 10 years later, there is a rise in the stock market. When crude oil prices go flat, the stock market goes flat. 

We are not yet quite at that 10 year echo point in stocks, which would equate to June of 2024, 10 years after crude oil peaked. That means the next few years are not going to be so great, especially between now and early 2026. Early 2026 will be a great time for investors to ride the stock market long all the way to 2028. 

 

Quoted from:
Tom McClellan (Mar 28, 2024) - 'Unpleasant Time' Ahead For Stock Market. (video)

 

When December, January and February are each positive ... | Wayne Whaley

Quoted from:
Wayne Whaley @ Twitter/X - Feb 24, 2024.

S&P 500 vs NAAIM Exposure Index │ ISABELNET

The National Association of Active Investment Managers Exposure Index represents the two-week moving average exposure to U.S. equity markets reported by NAAIM members.

 The NAAIM Exposure Index, with a reading of 95.58, indicates a strong bullish sentiment among active investment managers, reflecting their high confidence in the future trajectory of the stock market (published Feb 16, 2024).

 

 S&P 500 and NAAIM Index above 97 (published Feb 15, 2024)

Active investment managers are notorious for buying equities at tops and selling them at bottoms, highlighting the difficulties they encounter in accurately timing the market and making lucrative investment choices.

Reference:
ISABELNET (Feb 15+16, 2024) - S&P 500 and NAAIM Exposure Index above 97.

 

Still up: The 3 Day, the 9 Day and the 18 Day cycles vs the S&P 500 Index.

 

Jeffrey A. Hirsch (Feb 16, 2024) - DJIA S&P 500 & NASDAQ are all up 7 of last 12 days after the Presidents’ Day, but long-term record remains weak. Since 1990, average performance ranges from –0.56% for NASDAQ to –0.28% for DJIA. 

Sizable declines in the last 2 years have worsened the record.

2024 in the Four Year Election Cycle │ Dimitri Speck

 

Dow Jones, 4-year cycle, calculated over 121 years.

2024 is an election year. The election cycle suggests a weak first half of the year,  and a good second half. The election year gets off to a weak start. The left quarter of the chart shows the typical performance of the Dow Jones in election years. As indicated by the red arrow, these typically posted losses in the first half of the year. After that, things look much better, as indicated by the green arrow.

Quoted from:
Seasonax (Dec 13, 2013) - 4-Year Election Cycle: How will 2024 go?

2024 US Stock Market Outlook │ Larry Williams

 

Larry Williams' 2024 projection for US Stocks:

 

First week of January to last week of February - UP

 Last week of February to last week of April - DOWN

 Last week of April to last week of Juli - SIDEWAYS-TO-UP

First day to last day of August - UP

First week to third week of September - DOWN  

  Third week to fourth week of September new high of the year - UP

Fourth week of September to first week of November - SIDEWAYS-TO-DOWN  

 First week of November to first week of December - UP

 First week to third week of December - DOWN

 Third week to last trading day of December printing the yearly high - UP

 

The December 2023 Low is a key price level in Q1 of 2024. 

 

Larry Williams identified June 2024 in the current decennial pattern 

 as "the sweet spot with 90% accuracy" to buy and hold until December 2025.

 

 

Reference:

Larry Williams (Dec 15, 2023) - 2024 Market Outlook. (video)

 MRBullMktEver (Dec 18, 2023) @ X

The 41-Month Kitchin Cycle in Stocks │ Edward R. Dewey

Another cycle that has done all in its power to keep cycle scientists humble is one averaging 40.68 months in length. It has been present in industrial common-stock prices since 1871 and was discovered in 1912 by a New York group of investors. These gentlemen had learned that the Rothschilds had analyzed British consols (government obligations) and had broken up the price fluctuations into a series of repeating curves that had been combined and used for forecasting. The New York group hired a mathematician to discover the secret formula of the Rothschilds, and working with the Dow-Jones Railroad Averages, he discovered a forty-one-month cycle, plus three others, which his employers used to help them invest in the market. Apparently they were very successful around World War I.

 

Figure 38: The 41-Month Rhythm in Stock Prices, 1868-1945.

 

Some ten years after the original discovery, Professor W. L. Crum, of Harvard, noted a cycle of "39, 40, or 41 months" in monthly commercial-paper rates in New York. Almost simultaneously, Professor Joseph Kitchin, also of Harvard, discovered a cycle that he called forty months in six economic time series, bank clearings, commodity prices, and interest rates in both Great Britain and the United States from 1890 to 1922. As far as I know, it was not until 1935, twenty-three years after the original discovery, that this cycle was again noticed in the stock market. Our old friend Chapin Hoskins, who knew nothing of the earlier work, discovered this cycle in many series of price and production figures, including common-stock prices. Early in 1938 he made an extensive study of this cycle for one of the large investment-trust services.

Figure 38 shows the forty-one-month cycle (now refined to 40.68 months) from 1868 through 1945. As you can see, while its waves are not identical to an ideal 40.68 wave, which is represented by the broken zigzag, there is an amazing correspondence between them. This cycle persisted through wars and peace, good times and depressions.

Then, in 1946, something strange happened to our cycle. Almost as if some giant hand had reached down and pushed it, the cycle stumbled, and by the time it had regained its equilibrium it was marching completely out of step from the ideal cadence it had maintained for so many years. As you can see in Figure 39, it has regained the approximate beat of forty-one months or so, as before, but its behavior now appears upside down on our graph.

 

Figure 39: The 41-Month Rhythm, Upside Down, 1946-1957.

 

Scores of explanations and reams of paper have been expended to explain this behavior. We are familiar with most of the possibilities, such as distortion by random behavior, two or more other cycles of near lengths, and even a general public knowledge of this particular cycle, which may have had a distorting effect on its timing. But, in truth, no one can positively explain what happened in 1946 any more than they can explain the regularity of the rhythm for all the years that preceded it.

Quoted from:
Edward R. Dewey & Og Mandino (1971) - Cycles: The Mysterious Forces that Trigger Events.

 

Joseph Kitchin (1923) - Cycles and Trends in Economic Factors.
 

42-Month Cycle in the DJIA (weekly bars), March 2020 - October 2023.