End of the Year Commodity Statistics

Most of you are aware that traders anticipate a Santa Claus equity rally at the end of the year. Some interesting trends exist in many other commodities as well. Below are the statistics for the last week of the year, measuring from Christmas to New Years, for 13 different commodities I maintain databases for. There have been some really big swings in Oil in the last week of the year in both directions, but mostly to the positive side. Interestingly, the Dollar has a tendency to be weak during this time frame. Over the last 10 trading days of the year, the FTSE has been up in 25 of the last 27 years.
Commodities Over the Last Week of the Year

COMMODITY:   UP/DOWN_______  Avg%/ Med%

FTSE___________20/6      __________      0.77 /0.65

NIKKEI_________ 20/7     __________      0.57 /0.78

S&Ps___________ 45/16    __________     0.72 /0.66

OIL____________ 18/7      __________     3.07 /2.20

POUND_________ 29/12    __________     0.55 /0.55

CORN __________34/18    __________     0.58/0.80

GOLD__________ 21/15    _________        0.90/0.43

WHEAT ________24/21     _________       0.45 /0.28

COFFEE ________21/18    _________       0.19 /0.11

CATTLE________ 22/22   ________         0.19/0.09

TBDYLDS_______ 20/21   ________       -0.04/0.00

SOYBNS________ 23/29   ________      -0.09/-0.21

DOLLAR________ 13/27   ________      -0.49/-0.44

Source: Wayne Whaley      www.witterlester.com