The calendar should be arbitrary and have no significance to markets, but it does affect them because of the way money works. For example, money usually comes into markets at the beginning of the month. At the end of the quarter, money managers try to “window dress” by buying the winners of the past three months. There is low volume at the end and the beginning of the year. The best winners of the year usually do well in December and poorly in January. Many investors hold big winners into the following year to delay tax payments.
This is only part of the story as to why 2021 has already been so different from 2020. The other reasons are the exciting boost in the number of vaccines given out and the anticipated stimulus packages. Specifically, with energy there has been a recent surge in cold weather in the middle of America which has led to power outages especially in Texas. This weather is a reminder of just how different 2021 is from 2020. Oil went negative about 10.5 months a