The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 0.36% today to end the month with a 756.44 point gain — the largest January point gain in the benchmark’s history; the 5.77% rise is the best January percentage increase since 1994, according to WSJ Market Data Group.
The Dow’s biggest-gaining stocks this month were Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and Procter & Gamble (PG), up 15.8% and 10.7%, respectively. The biggest decliners were Bank of America (BAC) and Boeing (BA), down 2.5% and 2%.
For the record:
- January’s performance has predicted the full-year market direction 75% of the time.
- In 73 years when the Dow has finished January with a gain, it’s ended the year in the black 60 times — 82% of the time.
- While this year was the best January gain in terms of points, the highest percentage gain was 14.4% in 1976.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 5.04% this month, its best month since October 2011 and largest January gain since 1997. The index lost 0.26% today.
The small-cap Russell 2000 index gained 6.21% in January, a month in which it broke its record high closing level 12 times (this seems like an opportune moment to link to my piece on how well small-cap stocks have done recently).
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