The chart of the week looks at the performance of the S&P 500 by calendar year according to the election cycle. Election years, which 2024 will be, have historically been the third best of the 4 years. There are differing opinions in terms of what actually affects returns (one theory being it takes two years for a president to affect performance) but either way, the facts are the facts. Also of note, the best year historically has been year 3 in the cycle, which is 2023. So far, 2023 has backed this theory with very strong performance.