Study: What Happens Next When The Stock Market Crashes On Thursday And Friday

The stock market tanked on Thursday (-2.5%) and Friday (-2%). This is rare. Most of the “down on Thursday and Friday” historical cases saw the S&P fall a little on Thursday and accelerate the decline in Friday.

Nevertheless, this is a bearish sign for next Monday but a short-medium term bullish signal for the stock market. Here’s what happens next when the stock market falls more than 2% on Thursday and on Friday.

Here are the historical cases.

March 23, 2018 (current case)

August 21, 2015

January 30, 2009

July 19, 2007

October 16, 1987

September 13, 1974

Let’s look at these cases in detail.

August 21, 2015

This occurred in a “significant correction”. The S&P crashed the following Monday, which marked the 1st low in the “significant correction”.

January 30, 2009

The S&P made a marginal new low the next Monday. It then bounced for a week before making new lows over the next 4 weeks.

This case doesn’t apply to today because we are not in a bear market or a recession.

July 19, 2007

The S&P 500 made a marginal new low on Monday. It then rallied for 1 week before making marginal new lows over the next week. That marked the bottom of this “small correction”.

October 16, 1987

This occurred on the Friday before the infamous October 19, 1987 crash. That crashed marked the bottom of the S&P 500’s “significant correction”.

September 13, 1974

The S&P made a marginal new low the next Monday. It then bounced for a week and then fell for 2 weeks, which marked the bottom of the S&P 500’s bear market.

This historical case doesn’t apply to today. It happened within the context of a bear market and recession. We are neither in a bear market nor recession today.

Conclusion

When the stock market crashes more than 2% on Thursday and Friday:

It makes AT LEAST a marginal intraday new low on Monday. This makes sense. When the market crashes, some of that residual fear carries over the weekend and creeps in on Monday. That causes the market to fall from the OPEN on Monday.

The stock market is higher next Friday vs this Friday in 4 out of 5 historical cases. This wasn’t true of October 16, 1987: it crashed the following Monday. But the Medium-Long Term Model predicted that “significant correction”, whereas it has yielded no such SELL signal this time.

The stock market was very close to a medium term bottom AS LONG AS there wasn’t a bear market and recession. The bear market cases are irrelevant today: there is no recession today. And most of those bear market cases happened near the bottom of the bear market, after the market had fallen 50%+.