Presidential First Years: Stock Market Returns

While his detractors will argue otherwise, based on his first year in office, Barack Obama has been a good friend to the stock market.  Since 1897, the 33% return in the DJIA during his first year in office has been better than every other President except FDR, who saw a first year rally of 96%.  While conventional wisdom generally says the market likes Republicans better than Democrats, history suggests otherwise - at least during a President's first year.  Since 1897, the median return of the DJIA during the first year of a Democratic President's term has been 22.6%.  Under Republican Presidents, however, the median return of the DJIA has been a much more modest 0.4%.

 
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