Yankee title good for market

Returns average 10% year after win

Of course when the Yankees beat the Philadelphia Phillies 7-3 to claim a record-extending 27th World Series Championship Wednesday night, New York rejoiced. But their joy could be good news for the rest of the nation.

According to Standard & Poor's financial research service Capital IQ, the stock market has recorded 10 percent returns, on average, the year after a Yankees title victory.

Capital IQ also found:

• A Phillies loss nets an 11 percent gain in the market.

• A six-game World Series loosely correlates with an average stock market return of 15 percent.

• On average, when the Yankees lost the World Series, the market then lost 13 percent.

• Not surprising to Yankees fans: The worst annual return came after Boston, won the Series: a 37 percent drop after the Red Sox's 2007 Series victory.

Capital IQ notes that its correlations are not "a fundamental analysis of market trends or historical data."

Perhaps now that the Yankees, Major League Baseball's most successful franchise, have ended a championship drought that began after winning the 2000 World Series, the markets will find investors in a bullish mood.

"I think it's good for 20 points on the S&P," said Stephen Auth, 53, the New York-based chief investment officer for equities at Federated Investors Inc.

He said the victory will lift the spirit of New York and of the market.

To check out the data, visit www.scribd.com/doc/22129236/ The-World-Series-and-Stock-Market-Returns.

Sun-Times staff, wires