Barack Obama’s last State of the Union Address of his presidency. While the session following the speech is generally positive for the market, with the S&P 500 Index averaging a gain of 0.09% over the past 50 years, election years have shown a different result. The large-cap benchmark has declined by 0.18%, on average, in the session following the speech during election years, with only 5 of the past 12 events showing a positive outcome. The losses aren’t long-lived, however, with gains averaging 0.62% within one week of the event.
