January is one of the strongest months of the year for stocks:

Since 1928, the S&P 500 has risen 62.2% of the time in January, the 3rd-highest win rate of any month.

Over this period, only 37 of the last 97 years have posted negative returns in the first month of the year.

As a result, January has brought an average return of +1.2%, the 4th-strongest among any month.

Furthermore, when the S&P 500 ends January higher, the index has delivered a median full-year gain of +11.8%, with positive returns nearly 80% of the time.

When January’s gain exceeds 5%, the index has rallied +16.0%.

The year is setting up for a strong start.