The S&P 500 index posted a total return of 4.48% for the month of January. This marked the best performance for the U.S. stock market in the month of January in more than a decade. Additionally, the Dow Jones Industrial Average itself rose 3.55% for the first month of the year. It is fair to surmise that we are certainly off to a good start in 2012. Some interesting historical observations based on this data are as follows:

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