There is a saying that as January goes, so goes the full year market. But what about just the first day of January?
Courtesy of Reuters' Jamie McGeever, here is a quick snapshot of the worst opening days for the US stock market in the past century.
As of this moment, the S&P is down just about 2.4%. If the market closes here, that would make it a worse first day of trading than in such "dramatic" years as 2008 and 1933.
But wait, there's more, because unless the S&P somehow manages to stage a rebound and closes above the current levels, it would suffer the worst opening day loss in the past century except for the historic -8.1% collapse it suffered on January 4 of 1932.
Alternatively, if stocks really want to make the record books today, then they have to slide another 5.5%. That may be a stretch...