Nasdaq Looks to Put Together 3-Day Rally, Keep Record Intact

The Nasdaq composite index hasn’t been able to put together a three-day rally since late August.

But history says that jinx is about to be broken.

Today is the last trading day of the year, and in Nasdaq’s entire history--since 1971--the index has never failed to rally in the final session of the year, says the Stock Trader’s Almanac, a market fact book published by the Hirsch Organization in Old Tappan, N.J.

Nasdaq managed to gain even in the final trading session of 1973, a year in which it sank 31.1%, and in 1974, when it lost 35.1%.

Barring an explosive rally today, the index’s decline in 2000 is likely to be its worst calendar-year loss ever. As of Thursday, it was down 37.2% for the year.

But any rally today would at least give Nasdaq its first three-day advance since Aug. 30-Sept. 1.

The index rose 45.83 points on Wednesday and tacked on another 18.41 points on Thursday.

Since Sept. 1, Nasdaq has plunged nearly 40%, from 4,234.33 to Thursday’s close of 2,557.76. No rally since then has lasted longer than two days, as investors have relentlessly jettisoned technology stocks large and small.