Deke News Network FTW

[unixronin]

By way of the Deke News Network comes the observation that if you had invested $1 in the Dow Jones Industrial Average back in 1897 and held it only on the days when Congress was in session, your total returns through the year 2000 would be $2.  On the other hand, had you invested the same dollar and held it only when Congress was out of session, you would have made $216.  The same source also notes that during 2007, the S&p 500 was +7.0% for the days Congress was out of session, and -2.8% for the days Congress was in session.

This, I suppose, is why they call it Congress, rather than Progress.

Comments

[arasirsul.livejournal.com]

Wall street "wisdom" has long held, "Sell in May and walk away", as the summer months have never been good for the stock market.

I do wonder if the fact that Congress tends to hold session in the summer has something to do with it...

Of course, Congress has found a way to beat this scheme, too. If you sell when Congress goes in session, you get to pay your marginal tax rate on what you bought instead of capital gains rate...

[fruitylips.livejournal.com]

http://www.clubforgrowth.org/2008/01/congress_out_stock_market_up.php is where I saw it.

[7leaguebootdisk.livejournal.com]

I wonder how many days of each there are.