The market is off to a strong start today. The NYSE Tick did not post a negative reading for the 1st half hour of trading. This is fairly unusual, having happened only 64 times since the beginning of 2005. Below are stats showing how the SPY has performed the rest of the day after the TICK got off to such a strong start.

Nearly 2/3 of the time the market has managed to follow through with more gains from 10am until the close. Stats are a little skewed by the huge 7.5% gain that occurred on 10/13/08. The average loss was fairly small at around 0.5%. Overall, a very positive start like we’re seeing this morning has often been good news for the rest of the day.

Of course there is a little speech today from Chairmen Ben…