Early gains by S&P 500 bodes well for 2020

The S&P 500 rose 0.5 percent on Wednesday, bringing the gains of the first five days of 2020 to about 0.7 percent.

US stocks rose despite Iran firing more than a dozen missiles at US military bases in Iraq on Tuesday.

“Much of this market serenity is owed to both sides signaling they don’t want to escalate matters any further,” suggested Marios Hadjikyriacos Investment Analyst at XM.

In the meantime, the five-day gain at the start of 2020 bodes well for stocks for the rest of the year.

When stocks finish that period higher, the S&P 500 has been positive 82 percent of the time at year-end with an average gain of 13.6 percent, according to the Stock Trader’s Almanac and CNBC calculations.