Below is an updated look at the average performance of the S&P 500 (SPY) by weekday so far in 2019. As shown, Monday has been the only day of the trading week that has averaged a decline so far this year, but Tuesday has bounced back with an average gain of 0.12%. Wednesday has seen a small gain of 0.04%, but Thursday and Friday have both been very solid days this year. Thursday has seen the S&P average a gain of 0.16%, while Friday has closed out the week with an average gain of 0.17%. For all days this year, SPY has averaged a gain of 0.09%. That’s all you need per day to get to a 20% YTD gain through 10.5 months.
We can break the day out by opening gap versus open to close change as well. By opening gap, we mean SPY’s change from its prior day’s close to its next open. The open to close is the change from SPY’s opening price at 9:30 AM ET to its closing price at 4 PM ET. The opening gap and the open to close change combine for SPY’s full one-day change.
As noted above, Monday has been the only trading day of the week this year to average a decline. As shown below, all of that decline has come at the open of trading on Monday. SPY has averaged a gap down of 0.06% at the open on Mondays, but it has averaged an open to close gain of 0.02%. On Tuesdays, we’ve seen a reversal of Monday’s trend. SPY has averaged an opening gap of 0.12% on Tuesdays in 2019 and then a flat open to close.
Wednesday has averaged a flat open and a gain of 0.05% from the open to the close, while Thursday has averaged a gap up of 0.03% and a further gain of 0.13% from the open to the close.
Friday has seen strength at the open with an average gap higher of 0.11%. Intraday action on Fridays has been strong as well with an average open to close gain of 0.07%. With all the strength on Friday, investors haven’t been worried about holding equities over the weekend this year even with all the concerns over trade and geopolitical issues. They do come into the new trading week with some worries, though, given the Monday gaps down. Join Bespoke Premium now to get Bespoke’s most actionable stock market research. Click here to get your first 14 days free.
