Political Returns

No, this post has nothing to do with my political views. It is purely statistics that I found in another of my old Money magazines (June 2004). I have seen this before, but now I have it in writing.

The bear market from 1969-1974, and the market crashes of 1929 and 1987 all occured with a Republican president. The bull markets during the 1960s and 1990s occured with a Democratic president.

According to the Stock Trader's Almanac, since 1901 the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) has returned 6.4% annually with a Republican president, and 9.1% annually with a Democratic president.

Also according to Richard Bernstein of Merrill Lynch, since 1943, stocks rose 13.6% per year with a Democratic president, and only 11.7% per year with a Republican president. He also pointed out that long-term Treasury bonds returned 9.5% under the Republicans, while they only returned 2.8% during Democratic administrations.

He also noticed that industrial stocks did better under Democrats, and consumer stocks did better under Republican administrations.