Stock Market Receives Gift from Santa - Christmas is Bonus for Investors, Claims Financial Website ADVFN

London, UK (PRWEB) December 16, 2006

December is the best performing month of the year for the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Research by stocks and investment website ADVFN (http://www.advfn.com) highlights the impact of the so-called Santa Effect. Over the last 78 Christmas seasons up until 2005, 74% of Decembers have seen the Dow Jones Industrial Average up while only 26% have seen it go down. The index also shows a striking 1.49% improvement in December, the biggest average swing up or down of any month over the whole period of study (from 1928 to 2005). The December of 1987 was particularly jolly, recording a 9.39% return and the December of 1991 a very cheery 8.07%.

September however is the worst performing month over the period of study, with the Dow losing, on average, 1.32%. Unsurprisingly, the most recent poor performing September was in 2001 when the index dropped 11.61%. However, this is a fraction of the fall experienced in 1931, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted by 31.73%.

The Santa Effect is not only a US phenomenon. In Canada, 24 out of the last 29 Decembers have been winners on the S&P/TSX Composite Index. December 1979 saw the largest rise over this period of study (6.65%) whilst December 2003 witnessed the second largest rise since 1977 with an impressive 6.36%. The curse of September also strikes north of the border as Canadian Septembers are averagely the worst performing month from 1977 to 2005, with the index dropping 1.10% on average.

"The historical performance of the stock market in December favors the bulls; with both a peak in sales revenues during the festive period and the general bonhomie being strong contributing factors," said Clem Chambers, CEO of ADVFN. "Even taking into account this summer's correction, the Dow has had a fantastic run this year to record its all-time high. Only time will tell if it runs out of steam at the end of the year or gains more momentum - the bull in me expects the latter."

NOTES TO EDITORS

About ADVFN

ADVFN (http://www.advfn.com) provides financial data to retail investors from markets all over the world. It has over 750,000 registered users who generate in excess of 38 million page impressions a month. ADVFN is currently the number one stocks and investment website in Europe and has had a dedicated North American website for the last three years. It is adding between 300 and 350 new North American users a day. In September of 2006 ADVFN acquired InvestorsHub.com and Silicon Investor, two top five online investment community websites in the North American market.

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For further press information, please contact Francesca De Franco on 011 44 20 7070 0932 or email: francescad @ advfn.com

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