The Dow and S&P 500 are soaring — but this unloved stock index is absolutely roaring
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The Dow and S&P 500 are soaring — but this unloved stock index is absolutely roaringListen(10 min)Listen(10 min)This is the most wonderfully bullish time of the year for stocks. First, there is the post-Thanksgiving bullishness. This year, that didn’t amount to much, but it’s typically followed by an outperformance by small-cap stocks in the middle of December. The bullish seasonal pattern concludes with the “Santa Claus rally” at the end of the year.We are now entering the second phase. This used to be called the “January effect.” It got its name from the fact that small-cap stocks that had been dumped in December rebounded in January. As with many Wall Street patterns, the timeline accelerated as traders attempted to jump in ahead of the crowd. As a result, the “effect” moved into December a number of years ago and remains there today.About the AuthorLawrence G. McMillan is a columnist for MarketWatch and editor of the "MarketWatch Options Trader" newsletter. He is president of McMillan Analysis, an investment and commodity-trading adviser.Copyright © 2025 MarketWatch, Inc. All rights reserved.