Friday the 13th may not be safe for teenagers, but it's typically a good day for stocks
Slasher aficionados everywhere know the significance of tomorrow -- it's Friday the 13th, the day when Jason Voorhees parades around Camp Crystal Lake, searching for his next teenage victim. As such, fans of the horror franchise may assume the day is unlucky. But is that true for stocks? With the help of Schaeffer's Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White, we looked at the performance of the
S&P 500 Index (SPX) during the previous 20 occasions, taking us back to Aug. 13, 2004.
The chart below summarizes how the benchmark tends to perform on Friday the 13th. As you can see, there's some slight outperformance. The SPX has averaged a nearly 0.1% gain, with 60% positive, versus an anytime return of just 0.03% and 55% positive.
What about individual names? The chart below lists the 25 top-performing stocks on Friday the 13th. As you'll notice, restaurant chain Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG) is the most reliable advancer, finishing higher on 13 of the past 17 occasions, for an average gain of 0.9%. This would be a welcome sight for shareholders, who have seen CMG slide over 13% since the start of October, pressured by an E. coli scare.
On the flip side, below is a list of the 25 worst stocks on Friday the 13th. Taking the cake is Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) supplier Avago Technologies Ltd (NASDAQ:AVGO). The shares have advanced just twice on 11 such occasions, and averaged a loss of 0.4%. Longer term, though, AVGO has been impressive, tacking on over 19% in 2015.