The Sarcasm Report v.118

August 1, 2011
DJIA always climbs before U.S. presidential elections

The Dow Jones industrial average has posted average gains of 12% in years before presidential elections since its creation in 1896 and advanced the last 17 times, according to data compiled by Bloomberg and Dow Jones.

If the DJIA was created in 1896 and it "always climbs" in years before presidential elections then shouldn't it have advanced more than "17 times" in a row? That's probably just the math conspirator in me talking though.

What happened 18 times ago? The world may never know! Oh wait. The world can know. Never mind.

DJIA close on 12/30/38: 154.36
DJIA close on 12/29/39: 149.99

So much for that "always climbs" theory.

Dictionary.com: Always

"every time; on every occasion; without exception"

United States presidential election, 1940

The United States presidential election of 1940 was fought in the shadow of World War II (in Europe) as the United States was emerging from the Great Depression.

Good thing we're not emerging from a Great Depression now. Further, Europe is in great shape. One would certainly not accuse the Germans of attacking Greece again. See? It's not even remotely the same.

Source Data:
Yahoo Finance: DJIA Historical Prices