What Does This Friday The 13th Mean For The Stock Market?

This Friday, Jan. 13 might bring more joy than superstition to stocks if history is a guide. 

Despite the market's struggles with volatility that show no sign of ending as the Federal Reserve continues to wrestle with inflation, this superstition-laden day could modestly flip it to the upside, according to data compiled by "The Stock Trader’s Almanac" author Jeffrey Hirsch.

What Happened: Since 1930, when Friday the 13th fell in the month of January, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE: SPY) has seen a return of 0.01%.

The ETF had traded 13 times in January on Friday the 13th and closed higher seven of those 13 times.

When the six down days were removed, the S&P 500 returned a modestly bullish 0.12%.

This ties January with March and May for the sixth-best month for Friday the 13th's impact on the market, behind February, April, October and November.

The historic trend might cause the S&P 500 and the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (NYSE: DIA) to push higher.

In contrast, June and August closed higher more times than lower when Friday the 13th landed in those months, returning an average 0.49% and 0.48%, respectively.

“Since 1930, the S&P 500 has traded a grand total of 156 Friday 13th across all 12 months,” Hirsch said on Twitter Thursday. “The overall track record is 86 up days and 70 down days with a modestly bullish average gain of 0.04% on all Friday 13ths.”

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Photo: Ollyy via Shutterstock