How MANY New Highs since the election?

Stock market new highs have been touted in the political press. There have been claims of superior market performance under the current President. Lets examine this claim using the Yahoo adjusted closing prices of Vanguard's Investor Class S&P 500 Index Fund, VFINX.

Starting with election day to yesterday's close, we have the following results:

11/8/2016 Closing Price: 194.1598

12/14/2017 Closing Price: 245.8000

Number of Trading Days: 277

Number of New Highs: 76

Total Return: 23.5%

These look like great results and have been touted as such by the President and his supporters.

Let's look at, in fairness, the same period for the previous Presidential election.

11/7/2012 Closing Price: 116.9041

277 Trading Days After Election, 12/12/13 Closing Price: 152.2273

Number of New Highs: 69

Total Return: 24.09%

Another interesting comparison are the quarterly GDP growth rates.

If nothing else, these comps puts many claims in perspective. 

Feel free to post comments.

Disclaimer: The above is not investment advice, is for information purposes only, may be subject to change without notice, and, while prepared with care, may be subject to omissions and errors.