Stocks During an Election Year

Did you know that during the last half century, during an election year, stocks were up 12 out of the last 14 election years, or over 85%. The average return for all those election years is 9.3%, and if you just look at the up years, the average is 11.9%.

By the way, the two down years had nothing to do with the political party of the president who was elected; one year was a Democrat and one year was a Republican win. The following shows the return for the election year based on the S&P 500 Index.

Year... % Change
1952 Change 11.8%
1956 Change 2.6%
1960 Change -3.0%
1964 Change 13.0%
1968 Change 7.7%
1972 Change 15.6%
1976 Change 19.1%
1980 Change 25.8%
1984 Change 1.4%
1988 Change 12.4%
1992 Change 4.5%
1996 Change 20.3%
2000 Change -10.1%
2004 Change 9.0%