Is Christmas Itself a Driver of Market Rallies?

Is the celebration of Christmas the key to often robust year-end stock market returns?

Historians have long known that the U.S. stock market tends to be an above-average performer in late December. Over the last century, the stock market has risen an average of nearly 80% of the time over the period from two days before Christmas through the first week of January. Though thatâ??s still short of a 100% guarantee, itâ??s far better than the 56% odds of rising across all other periods of the same length.