A last-gasp push on the ST Index this week?

ONE of the more interesting bits of news last week, reported earlier in this column, was that according to US economics research firm Cornerstone Macro, the probability of the US equity indices posting a positive return in the final five days of any year is 77 per cent versus 55 per cent for any other five-day period.

In other words, the odds of the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing above 20,000 for the first time in history in the few remaining days of 2016 are higher than usual.

Why this happens is not clear - whether it's because funds want to pad their performance by pushing up particular stocks before the end of significant periods, whether you want to call it "window dressing" or "portfolio rebalancing" or whether there are some tax-related reasons, it is a reality of the market that odd things often happen at the end of each month, quarter, half-year and year.