Market participants often talk about the Christmas rally, or some call it the Santa rally. This talk came about because of a perceived tendency for the market to rally in December. This is understandable because in the 41 years since 1970, December has been a positive month 30 times, or around 73% of the time.
 
In that time there has been 26 up years and 15 down years. If the year was up, then December was up 23 out of those 26 years, or around 88% of the time. However , in the down years, December was up only 7 out of 15 times or around 47% of the time.
 
The figures stack up much the same for the 61 Years since 1950. December was an up month around 74% of the time. However if the preceding 11 months were down then the Santa rally happens only around 52% of the time.
 
So unfortunately, just when you really need the Santa Rally, it is the least likely to arrive.