Looking for Santa -- What Did the Market Do Last Year?

Traders are looking for a Santa Claus rally, but not finding one, at least so far. What happened last year? Let's look at this chart of the S&P 500 from late 2013 through the early months of 2014.


Stocks actually sold off from late November through December 17, a peak-to-trough loss of 2.3%.  Then the markets did experience a Santa Claus rally of about 4.5%.  That ended in January for another 6% loss. And this was followed by a trough-to-peak rally of 8.3%.

Santa did show up. But he was riding a roller coaster.