Should Traders Fear Friday The 13th?

Rationalist consider the notion of Friday the 13th bringing ill luck as a superstition. However, sentiment drives markets, and uneasiness about the date could have generated weakness, overlooking fundamental factors.

In a quest to draw a conclusion using empirical evidence, Benzinga looked at how the markets fared on each of the Fridays that fell on the 13th of the month over the past ten years. The S&P 500 is taken as a proxy for the performance of the market.

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

Thus, it is seen that there isn't anything eerie about the trading on Friday the 13th. Volumes have also been fairly decent, considering the fact that the day precedes the weekend. The markets don't seem to have made any earth shattering moves on these days.

Of the 18 Fridays that have fallen on the 13th over the last decade, nine posted gains, while the remaining nine recorded losses, suggesting even breadth. On average, the S&P 500 made a small loss of 0.02 percent.

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