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August expiration days have been mighty bullish of late. And today was no different – barely.
The Dow Jones Industrial index edged up a mere 0.1% on Friday to make it eight up days in 10 years on August expiration day. From 2003-2009, Dow stocks gained every year on the third Friday of August, including a 156-point gain in 2009.
After a two-year hiatus, today was a return to the norm – albeit by the slimmest of margins.
The Dow’s gains were on par with the S&P 500’s. Nasdaq stocks posted the day’s biggest gains, with a 0.34% move.
Those moves were slight – but they were on par with the low volatility that has consumed the market for the past two weeks. This was the eighth trading day in nine sessions that U.S stocks have moved either up or down less than 0.35%.
Some stocks managed to buck the boring trend, however.
Michael Kors (NYSE: KORS) was up 5.3% today, continuing the luxury retailer’s glorious first year of public trading.
Kors’ upward move paled in comparison to fellow retailer Ann Inc. (NYSE: ANN), however. Shares of the women’s apparel chain jumped 20% on better-than-expected second-quarter earnings.