Trading Days: Dow Jones and Stock-Market Column

trading days: Read Here's why Trump's inauguration could mark a near-term top for stocks Also read Market Watch's stock-market column, snapshot Of course, the market is only about eight trading days into 2017 and things could pivot quickly, according to Market Watch. After all, stocks began 2016 with the worst start to a new year in history before regaining their footing and storming to new records. Gold futures GCG7, -0.21% are trading around 1,200 an ounce and are up around 4% so far in 2017, compared with a tepid gain of 0.7% for the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.03% and a 1.4% advance by the S&P 500 index SPX, 0.18% Not even the standout Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, 0.48% which racked up its fifth straight record close on Wednesday for a year-to-date climb of about 3%, has managed to outstrip gold's returns. That said, for a little perspective, from the start of last year to Jan. 12, 2016, gold was only up about 2.4%, while the Dow and the S&P 500 were both off more than 5%, according to Fact Set data. See Here's how U.S. stocks perform after presidential inaugurations But what appears to be a stall-out for equities though not an outright reversal highlights investors' apparent reassessment of some of the factors that had accelerated a rally in equities after Trump won the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 8. It also is worth noting that, gold's less prominent sister metal, silver SIH7, 0.06% is doing even better in 2017, up about 5%. Silver was off 0.4% from the start of last year to Jan. 12. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.