What Christmas Music Means for Your Portfolio

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By Matthew Carr

I’ll admit, I don’t know how many Christmas songs have been written throughout history. But I assume it must be more than the half-dozen played continuously.

And recent studies have shown that nonstop Christmas music can cause people psychological harm.

Especially when retailers put “Jingle Bells,” “Here Comes Santa Claus” and “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas” on repeat… starting in October.

Best Buy (NYSE: BBY), Ulta Beauty (Nasdaq: ULTA), Sears (Nasdaq: SHLD) and Michaels (Nasdaq: MIK) are just a few chains guilty of such a crime.

Christmas music can irritate people by reminding them of everything that needs to be done before the holidays.

Plus, if you’re an employee at one of these retailers, caught in the endless Christmas music loop day in, day out, you’re bound to be mentally scarred.

But investors should start to love Christmas music… that is, if they don’t already.

It’s the harbinger of an annual holiday shopping blitz that fuels the markets through the end of the year.

Now, the markets have already had a solid year…

Despite the recent post-tax-bill blues, the Nasdaq is leading the pack, up 24% year to date. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 22%, and the S&P 500 is putting up a solid 16.5% performance.

But the final three months of the year are often when the biggest moves happen.
Summer Lulls and Winter Winnings
In fact, the fourth quarter is typically the best stretch of the year. And that’s because beginning in October, we have all the major spending holidays on the horizon.

Just look at the average quarterly gain of the Dow since 2008…

The slow-moving blue chips on the Dow have averaged a 3.79% gain in the fourth quarter over the last 10 years.

That’s more than double the Dow’s average performance in the third and first quarters. And as you can see, it’s several times the Dow’s performance during the second quarter “summer lull.”

Over the past five years, the Dow has closed out the year strong.

This year, since the start of October, the Dow is up nearly 8%. If the blue chip index doesn’t completely collapse between now and the end of the month, it’ll be the fourth year out of the past five that the Dow has gained more than 7% in the fourth quarter.

In other words, don’t bet against the markets in the fourth quarter. This trend is truly an investor’s best friend.

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At the moment, the Dow is negative for December. But it began December with several straight days of record highs. And since 2008, the Dow has ended December lower than where it began only three other times.

The one outlier is the Nasdaq… the tech index is down more than 1% in December already. And it finished the month of December down more than 1% in two out of the past three years.

The tax bill has created havoc for tech in recent days. But it could also create an opportunity.
Starting the Year in the Red
I’ll take a moment to give my annual warning: Remember, January is one of the worst months of the …read more

Source:: Investment You

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