February 19, 2019

"Bulls make money, bears make money, and pigs get slaughtered." - an old Wall Street saying

The Chinese New Year (often called the Lunar New Year) kicked off February 5, and with it came the Year of the Pig. Although we would never suggest investing based on the zodiac signs—it is important to note that the Year of the Pig has historically been quite strong for equities.

Since the Chinese New Year typically starts between late-January and mid-February, we looked at the 12-month return of the S&P 500 Index starting in late January dating all the way back to 1928.* And wouldn’t you know it? The Year of the Pig is up nearly 15% on average. Oink Oink indeed!

The year of the pig is the twelfth of the 12 animal signs of the Chinese zodiac, and the pig is considered a symbol of wealth in Chinese culture, which is quite interesting given some strong equity returns have taken place during this year. In fact, out of the 12 zodiac signs, no year sports a better average return.

Be aware that a small sample size and the pure randomness of this makes us want to stress not to ever invest purely based on the zodiac signs – just consider it a little Market Trivia.

Still, here’s to the year of the pig playing out for the bulls once again!