Here’s a quick stat to start the year, and unfortunately it’s regarding very negative price action for U.S. equities:

The S&P 500-tracking “SPY” ETF is currently set to open down by 1.78% when the bell rings this morning at 9:30 AM ET.  Since the SPY began trading back in 1994, the ETF has only opened lower on the first trading day of the year twice in twenty-two years, and it has never opened lower by more than 1%.