WILL JANUARY HIT THE TRIFECTA?
For background, market seasonality is premised on the adage of ‘history doesn’t repeat, but it often rhymes.’ The embedded assumption is the market exhibits seasonal patterns or cycles that ‘rhyme’ throughout history, or more specifically, when prices move in a recognizable pattern that occurs with some degree of consistency over a specific timeframe. These patterns can last anywhere from several days to several years, each having its own tendencies unique to that period. For example, we are now in year three of the presidential cycle, historically the bestperforming year for stocks across the four-year cycle. By no means is seasonality flawless, as pricing patterns are historical tendencies and not a guarantee of future results. Within LPL Research, we view seasonal data as one input, among many, into our decision-making process.