Slim Chance U.S. Stocks Will Rack Up Another Year of Gains

  • Four-year streak has only happened handful of times since 1927
  • Strategists expect the S&P 500 will close 2022 higher than now
Fed Unanimity Is Good for Risk Assets: Morgan Stanley
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The S&P 500 Index is poised to end higher for the third year in a row, having added more than 20% so far in 2021. Another rally in 2022 would make for a four-year winning streak, which has happened only five times in nearly a century.

Analysis shows a three-year streak -- like the one now -- is uncommon, but not terribly out of the ordinary, occurring 11 times for data going back to 1927, and making another year of gains a toss-up. The longest-ever wining streak was the eight-year period from 1982 to 1989 (even with a dramatic crash in October 1987, the S&P 500 still eked out a gain).