Terrible Year for S&P 500

You can't sugarcoat it... We're now looking at the worst year-to-date decline in the S&P 500 ever.

It all depends on where we close today, and we won't hazard a guess on that. But the year-to-date drop is right around -33.7%, a bit worse than the -33.4% decline in 1974.

However, the index still has some droppin' to do to make it the worst year of all time. In 1931, the index fell 43.34%. Can we still do that this year? It's not impossible. Based on the year's opening level of 1468.46, a 43.34% drop would get us to around 837 -- right now we're at 1005.

Sidenote: According to Political Calculations, the worst 12-month period (not calendar year) for the S&P 500 was June 1931-July 1932, when it fell 63.8%.

(Chart from Bespoke via Kedrosky)

S&P 500 -- Worst Year-To-Date Decline Ever!