Almanac Trader — First Trading Day of August – S&P 500 Down 11 of…

On page 90 of the Stock
Trader’s Almanac 2025, it is shown that the first trading days of each
month combined have produced an outsized share of the market’s overall gains.
However, the first trading day of August does not contribute to this phenomenon
ranking last. In the upcoming 2026Almanac August’s first trading day is still the worst and the
largest decliner. In the past 21 years S&P 500 and DJIA have risen just 38.1%
(up 8, down 13) of the time on the first trading day of August. A few sizable
gains in advancing years have mitigated the damage with average performance
remaining modestly positive across all three indices. Last year, DJIA, S&P
500 and NASDAQ all declined by over 1.2%. NASDAQ was the weakest, down 2.3% in
2024.