Sam Stovall, of “CFRA” Research, CFRA recently acquired Standard&Poor’s

Much to the dismay of Republicans, a surprising amount of press is given to the S&P 500’s performance under Democrat and Republican presidencies. But doesn’t Congress control the purse strings?

Since 1945, whenever Republicans controlled both houses of Congress, the S&P 500 rose an average 13.3%, and gained in price in two out of every three years.

Whenever the Democrats were in control of both houses, however, the S&P 500 gained an average of only 7.4%, but rose in price a more consistent 73% of the time.