This item was posted a few hours before the market closed, ending out the month. By the close of trading, the January decline of 8.57% in the S&P 500 became the worst ever, snapping the 39-year record decline of January 1970. Incidentally, the index finished 1970 in positive territory — up 0.10%.

Here's a table of all the years with a negative annual return in the S&P Composite since 1871. The data underlying the annual percentages is the monthly average of daily closes from December to December. Fifty of the 137 years had a negative return. About half the time (26 to be exact) the January monthly average was also in the red. Of the 87 years with a positive return, the January monthly average was negative only 15 times: 1885, 1895, 1916, 1919, 1922, 1927, 1948, 1956, 1968, 1978, 1982, 1991, 1993, 2003, and 2005.

Year January Close 1873 0.80% -12.82% 1875 0.00% -3.74% 1876 2.10% -18.08% 1877 -0.80% -9.22% 1882 -1.50% -2.83% 1883 -0.50% -8.56% 1884 -3.00% -18.73% 1887 -1.10% -6.56% 1888 0.80% -2.47% 1890 1.10% -13.53% 1893 1.80% -19.96% 1894 -2.00% -2.49% 1896 -1.20% -2.31% 1903 5.10% -18.39% 1907 -2.80% -33.23% 1910 -2.10% -12.14% 1913 -0.90% -14.29% 1914 4.10% -8.58% 1917 -2.30% -30.61% 1920 -1.00% -23.65% 1923 1.40% -2.62% 1929 7.40% -7.56% 1930 1.40% -27.52% 1931 3.00% -45.58% 1932 -1.70% -19.19% 1934 5.70% -7.12% 1937 3.10% -35.40% 1939 -1.50% -2.52% 1940 -0.60% -14.87% 1941 0.20% -16.81% 1946 4.00% -12.69% 1947 0.50% -0.66% 1953 0.50% -4.65% 1957 -2.20% -13.16% 1960 -1.70% -3.83% 1962 -3.70% -12.68% 1966 1.70% -11.34% 1969 -4.20% -14.45% 1970 -0.90% -1.16% 1973 0.80% -19.34% 1974 1.40% -29.24% 1977 -0.90% -10.39% 1981 -0.40% -7.27% 1987 6.40% -3.06% 1990 -2.50% -5.69% 1994 1.50% -2.31% 2000 -0.20% -6.84% 2001 0.40% -13.98% 2002 -0.40% -21.46% 2008 -6.80% -40.67% Total Down 26 50