Credit Suisse: Market's January Performance Was Sixth-Worst Since 1970

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NASDAQ:SPY) on Tuesday afternoon traded down roughly 1.5 percent, while the Barclays iPath S&P 500 Short-Term Vix ETF (NYSE:VXX) gained just over 6 percent. January was a volatile month for the market, with SPY falling as almost 10 percent. The final eight trading days saw SPY add back nearly 7 percent to finish the month basically unchanged.

Mid-day Tuesday, Credit Suisse noted that Januarys average daily dollar value traded in the US was the sixth-highest monthly average for January at $343 billion. Volatility swelled in January, with 10 out of 19 days seeing a intra-day S&P 500 move of at least 2 percent.

Credit Suisse's parting comments highlight that 18 Januarys since 1970 have been down months (not including January 2016) and nine times the index finished the year up.

We're 50-50 at this point, which should signal the uncertainty even Wall Street veterans embody regarding expectations for 2016.