September 19-26 Weakest Seasonal S&P Week of the Year | Wayne Whaley

The weekly performance measure used for comparison is an average of the weeks of interest over the last 50 years, which,

1. Underweights outliers that can distort averages and overweights the observations congregating more toward

     the median and,
2. Weights the most recent years 2 to 1 vs those 50 years prior. 

 

 Wayne Whaley @ X — September 14, 2024.

 

See also:

Wayne Whaley (August 31, 2024) - S&P 500 Soared 7% in Summer, Shifts Weakness to October.  

Jeffrey A. Hirsch (September 5, 2024) - S&P 500 September 2024 Seasonality.

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

After +10% January-July and a Negative First Half of August | Wayne Whaley

The S&P was up 15.8% in the first 7 months (January-July) of 2024 and, as of August 11, is down 3.2% in August. The S&P has a history of going counter trend in August with early August weakness after a strong year tending to strengthen the case for a bullish finish. For example, since 1950, there have been 16 years in which a double digit, first seven months of the year (January-July) was followed by a negative first two weeks of August.

The following August 14-January time frame was 14-2 in this setup for an average 5 1/2 months gain of 9.34%. The 5% moves were 12-0 to the positive with the worst drawdown as measured from August 14 of the single digit variety.

The weakest period, on average, was September 23-October 2 which was 6-10 for an average loss of 0.90%. The strongest time frame was October 27-January 20 which was positive in all 16 of those setups for an average, 8 week, gain of 7.27%.

Quoted from:
Wayne Whaley (August 10, 2024) - When a negative 1st two weeks of August is preceded by a +10% January-July.

» After an early August selloff, the market has tended to spend the balance of August bouncing 

around on average with little meaningful progress. The tightening of the presidential election and 

elevated geopolitical tensions are likely to keep a lid on markets through the rest of the “Worst Months“. «

 

 Jeffrey A. Hirsch @ Twitter/X - Feb 28, 2024

Next weekly directional change during week of August 26.

 

See also:
Jeffrey A. Hirsch (August 07, 2024) - No Escaping Historically Miserable August.
TPR (July 25, 2024) - Cosmic Cluster Days | August 2024.
Martin Armstrong (July 14, 2024) - Panic Cycles Week July 15 - 19 & Week September 9 - 13.

Sergey Tarassov (June 26, 2024) - 2024 DJIA vs 40 & 42 Month Cycles.

The Summer Rally | Wayne Whaley

This study looks at the S&P performance from June19 - July23 in those 29 years of the last 40 in which the trailing Quarter, March19 - June19 was positive. As of June 15, the March19 - June19 time frame, with three trading days remaining, is up 4.89% for 2024. The June19 - July23 reaction period will be split into two measures which have distinctly different characteristics, namely June19 - 27 and June27 - July23. 

 

• The June 19 - 27 period which is strongly correlated to the June Post Opex week has been negative in this setup in 17 of the last 19 years.
• The last 14 cases has seen June27 - July23 positive, as well as 25 of the last 29 cases, the so called summer rally time frame you have heard speak of.

Quoted from:
Wayne Whaley (June 17, 2024) - The Summer Rally.

During June the S&P 500 tends to be true to the trend | Wayne Whaley

The S&P has a well deserved reputation for being flat as a pancake in the summer with June no exception, coming in at 31-19 over the last 50 years for a pedestrian type, 0.52% average monthly gain.  However, if the market is behaving well, the month of June has tended to follow suit. Below, I took the last 50 yrs and split them into 3 categories comprised of years where

1. January - May was negative
2. January - May was 0-8% and
3. January - May was greater then 8%.

In those 35 years in which the S&P was positive for the 1st five months of the year, the month of June was 27-8 with the 3% June moves, 12-1 in the positive direction as opposed to a 4-11 June record in those years where the 1st five months of the year were negative with the 3% June moves 1-4.

In particular, the +8% January-May starts saw June averaging a 2.34% gain. As of Tuesday's close, May 28, the S&P is up 11.24% for the first five months of 2024.

Quoted from:
Wayne Whaley (May 28, 2024) - June tends to be true to the trend.

See also:
Wayne Whaley (May 26, 2024) - Top Ten S&P 500 Seasonal Periods after a +5% January-May.

 

Top Ten S&P 500 Seasonal Periods after a +5% January-May | Wayne Whaley

With four trading days remaining in the month of May, the first five S&P months (January-May) of the year are up 11.2%.  Over the last 50 years, there have been 22 years in which the S&P was up at least 5% for the first five months of the year. Below are the ten strongest seasonal periods in the last seven months of those 22 years, eight of which had a positive slant.

The first column is the performance in the first five months of the year in those 22 years of the last 50 which had a +5% gain.  The 2nd column is the performance from May31-June 8th which is the rated the 10th strongest seasonal period of those last seven months. Then Jun12-July14, etc.

 

In my opinion, the major take away from this scan is that not only are you promised a strong fourth Quarter culminating in a 20-2, Dec14-30 performance but you usually get an equally impressive summer rally from mid June through mid July.  The two soft spots occurred in July26-August10 and Sept23-30.

Wayne Whaley @ X - May 25, 2024

 

A New High in May - Makes the Fall Rally a Strong Play | Wayne Whaley

On Wednesday, May 15, 2024, the S&P closed at 5308.15 which was a new All Time High.  Given that 50% type Bear Markets can take years to erase, I often fancy '12 Month High' as to 'All Time High' scans as they capture the same market characteristics while providing a larger sample size.

Since 1950, there have been 27 prior years of those 74 in which a High for the rolling year was set in May. In those 27 cases, the following June-December performance was 23-4 for an avg 7.58%, seven month gain. The 10% moves during the final seven months of those 27 calendar years were 12-0 to the positive side.  

The fall rally I reference is Aug25-Dec8 with 26 wins after a May High vs on fractional loss.  The scan deemed June21-July01 as the weakest period with a 12-14 mark for a modest 0.26% avg loss.

 

Wayne Whaley - May 18, 2024

 

See also:
Robert Miner (April 26, 2024) - The S&P 500 and the Election Year Cycle.

S&P 500 March-April 2024 Seasonality │ Jeff Hirsch & Wayne Whaley

After 5 months of solid gains, are markets ready for a pause? Bullish Presidential Cycle Sitting President Pattern flattens out the mid-February to late-March seasonal retreat considerably without 2020 in the average.

 'Best Six Months' ends in April.

April is the final month of the “Best Six Months” for DJIA and the S&P 500. From our Seasonal MACD Buy Signal on October 9, 2023, through (March 21, 2024), DJIA is up 18.4% and S&P 500 is up 20.9%. Fueled by interest rate cut expectations and AI speculation, these gains are approximately double the historical average already and could continue to increase before the “Best Months” come to an end.

This AI-fueled bull market has enjoyed solid gains since last October and will likely continue to push higher in the near-term, but momentum does appear to be waning with the pace of gains slowing. With April and the end of DJIA’s and S&P 500’s “Best Six Months” quickly approaching we are going to begin shifting to a more cautious stance. We maintain our bullish stance for 2024, but that does not preclude the possibility of some weakness during spring and summer.

 

Reference:
Jeffrey A. Hirsch (Mar 24, 2024) @ Twitter/X 

 

 

Reference:

 ICT Seasonality | Michael J. Huddleston

The Quarterly Theory | Daye

 

THE CORRELATION MODEL SEES A NEGATIVE LAST WEEK OF MARCH FOR THE S&P. Provided a time frame of interest, my correlation model calculates the Correlation Coefficients (-1 to +1) for the past performance of 4165 different time frames over the prior 3 months vs the performance for the time frame of interest in search of the period which has demonstrated the most barometric acumen in predicting the performance of the upcoming time frame of interest. 

 

This week I ask the model for it’s prognosis for the S&P in the last week of March. It responded that the prior ten calendar days (Mar10-24) had a very uncanny track record of forecasting the last week of March with those 2 time frames having a very strong NEGATIVE correlation which doesn’t bode well for next week given that March 10-24 was up 1.63% this year.  

 

Note the 3-10, March 24-31 performance in the far right category below in those 13 prior years where March 10-24 was greater than 1.2% for an avg wkly loss of 0.74% with 1% moves 1-7 to the downside.  This contrasts dramatically to the 11-2 performance when March 10-24 was less than -0.5%.  Fingers crossed that it is wrong this year. 

 

The outlook for April is much brighter. 

 

  

Reference: 

 Wayne Whaley (Mar 23, 2024) @ Twitter/X

 

[ oftentimes true: ]

 

In Bull Markets, New Moons are Bottoms, and Full Moons are Tops. 

In Bear Markets, New Moons are Tops, and Full Moons are Bottoms.

 

The SoLunar Rhythm in March 2024.

 

 

 

 

 

S&P 500 vs VIX and Seasonal Patterns

Corrections and short-term market peaks often coincide with exceptionally low levels of market volatility.

Reference: ISABELNET - Feb 28, 2024.

 

Beware of the Ides of March: This year also coincides with the seasonal decline during presidential election years where the sitting president is running. Support levels to watch in the S&P 500: 4800 old ATH and 4600 near summer 2023 highs.

 

 Reference: Jeffrey A. Hirsch @ Twitter/X - Feb 28, 2024

February’s last trading day historically bearish. DJIA and S&P 500 have been down 9 straight and 11 of the last 12. NASDAQ has tried to buck the trend, up 3 of last 4 years. Potential setup for historically bullish first trading day of March.

Reference: Jeffrey A. Hirsch @ Twitter/X - Feb 28, 2024

 

 Reference: Wayne Whaley @ Twitter/X - Feb 29, 2024

 

Reference: Larry Williams' 2024 US Stock Market Outlook.

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

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

S&P 500 Seasonal Pattern for February 2024 | Jeff Hirsch

Typical February Performance: Weakness After Mid-Month Peak - After a strong opening day, strength has tended to fade until around the seventh trading day. From there until around the 12-trading day all five indexes have historically enjoyed gains. But those gains have not held until the end of February with a peak occurring around mid-month. By the end of February, only NASDAQ and Russell 2000 have remained slightly positive while DJIA, S&P 500, and Russell 1000 turn negative.

Reference:
Jeffrey A. Hirsch (Jan 24, 2024) @ X

 

See also:
Jeffrey A. Hirsch  (Dec 26, 2023) - 2024 S&P 500 Election Year Seasonal Pattern.

Larry Williams (Dec 18, 2023) - 2024 US Stock Market Outlook. 

 

2024 Turn Of the Year (TOY) Barometer Very Positive │ Wayne Whaley

The Turn Of the Year (TOY) Barometer is based on the S&P's November 19 to January 19 performance. This is the most predictive period of the year, the single most reliable seasonality barometer of forward stock market returns and the kingpin of seasonal barometers. A return during this 2-month period greater than 3%  is a bullish signal, and the market is very likely to do well over the following 12 months. A return of 0-3% is a neutral signal, and results of the current year are expected to be somewhat random. A negative return is a bearish signal for the year, and returns tend to be very poor. 

 

The 2024 TOY is +7.22%. Since 1950 if TOY was > 3%, the next year (January 19 - January 19) had an average gain of +16.5% with two single digit losses (32-2), and February - April was 32-5 for an average 3 month gain of 4.23%.

Credits:
Wayne Whaley (Jan 19, 2024) - The 2024 TOY Barometer.

See also:
Wayne Whaley (Jan 19, 2024) - The Turn of the Year (TOY) Barometer.

S&P 500 Stats │ Wayne Whaley

Wayne Whaley (Jan 06, 2024) - The S&P broke a 9 week win streak last week. Normally any pullback in a strong advance will scan out as a buy signal. I posted 8 week advances instead of 9, so as to have +10 data points. The TOY Barometer aficionados will argue that the first week of the year is not just any week.

 

 

IsabelNet (Jan 06, 2024) - Historically, 9-week win streaks tend to be bullish for US stocks, with a median 12.4% increase in value seen a year later since 1950, giving investors good reason to expect a positive year in 2024.

 

 

IsabelNet (Jan 05, 2024) - From January to May of an election year, the performance of the S&P 500 index is often lackluster. However, as the year progresses, the market typically improves and delivers robust performance. 

 

IsabelNet (Jan 05, 2024) - Historically, the average annual return of the S&P 500 index tends to experience a substantial decrease during periods when stocks encounter challenges in the month of January.

2024 S&P 500 Election Year Seasonal Pattern │ Jeff Hirsch

 2024 is an Election Year and the sitting President is running for office again. 

In this constellation the S&P 500 typically tends to (1.) trend higher from early January into mid February;  

(2.) decline into late March; (3.) rise up for the rest of the year, especially after elections.

Also take note of Larry Williams' re-election pattern.

 

The S&P 500's average annual return during Election Years is 11.6%. Since 1833 the fourth year in the Decennial Pattern has been up 13 vs 6 times down with an average annual return of 5.22%. Over the past 30 years, January gains have occurred 17 times (57%), while losses numbered 13 (43%), barely better than the flip of a coin. In bull markets, New Moons are bottoms, and Full Moons are tops. In bear markets, New Moons are tops, and Full Moons are bottoms. More often than not, stocks will rise from around the 7th to around the 14th calendar day of a month, fall from the 14th to the 20th, and rise from the 20th to the 25th.

 

In 1967 Yale Hirsch published the first Stock Trader’s Almanac and presented the Four Year Presidential Election Cycle as an significant and predictive indicator of stock market performance. The outcomes are relatively steady, regardless of the president’s political leanings in office at the time, and the year after each presidential election marks the start of a new four-year stock market cycle. Considering annual returns of each year in the four year cycle, the Pre-Election Year (2023) is considered best, and  the Election Year second. The most predictive period of the year is November 19th to January 19th. Wayne Whaley coined it a 'Turn of the Year (TOY) Barometer'. If the return of this 2-month period is greater than 3%, a bullish signal is given, and the market is very likely to do well over the following 12 months. If the return is 0-3%, the signal is considered neutral; and if the return is negative, the signal is bearish, and returns very poor. Currently the S&P 500 still trades some 6% above the November 19 level.

 

The 250 year US empire live cycle concluded in 2023. Demise by folly overstretch. Uni-polar global supremacy is over, and Russia, China and Iran stronger than ever. A multi-polar world of worlds now knows how to deal with a paper-tiger gone mad. All star-spangled striped monsters check-mated, defeated and unveiled 24/7 along the many battle fronts on the globe. Project Ukraine lost. Now supervising genocide in Palestine. Yemen's Ansar Allah controls the Bab al-Mandab and launches full front attacks against the hegemon. An emerging Muslim alliance will liberate the Holy Land. Iran may shut down the Gibraltar strait any moment. The Taliban will enter Jerusalem and flatten Tel Aviv. Zionist Saudis and emirs doomed. Revolutionary Shia will root them out. The fever pitch increases. As some discard all this as hysteria and Islamist war propaganda, the dollar hegemony is rapidly melting away under the world island's rising sun. 2024 will be a remarkable 'election year'. W.D. Gann projected 'major panic, breadlines, soup kitchens, despair, and unemployment' into the US of 2024. And US astrologer L. David Linsky sees the home-front ready for more mayhem, upheaval, war and regime change. Plenty of opportunities along the lines and times in the above seasonal roadmap for 2024.

 

 

The Kitchin Cycle and the Benner Cycle are bullish for all of 2024 and 2025 (historically the fifth year outperforming all other years in the decennial pattern). In the current decennial cycle Larry Williams identified June 2024 as "the sweet spot with 90% accuracy" to buy stocks until December 2025.

 

 

 

 

 

In January 2024 the Sensitive Degrees of the Sun are:

Jan 02 (Tue) = Earth at perihelion = positive = high
Jan 06 (Sat) = negative = low
Jan 19 (Fri) = negative = low
Jan 30 (Tue) = positive = high

The Turning points in the Geocentric Bradley Barometer are (+/-1 CD):

Jan 04 (Thu) = Low
Jan 13 (Sat) = High
Jan 22 (Mon) = Low
Jan 29 (Mon) = High

The SoLunar Rhythm during January 2024: 

 

Additional References:
Seth Golden (Dec 26, 2023) @ X

Dimensional (2023) - Market Returns During Election Years.

IsabelNet (Dec 12, 2023) - S&P 500 Day of Month Seasonality Returns 1928 to present.

 

 Last time the S&P 500 was up 9 consecutive weeks was in 2004 and before that two 9-week win streaks in 1989 and in 1994,

before that a 12-week win streak in 1985. The next years' returns were:
1986 = 14%
1990 = -4.5%
1995 = 34%

2005 = 3%