“These strong returns are historically often back-end loaded,” said George Smith, portfolio strategist at LPL Financial. Moreover, in presidential election years, December typically moves up one notch to become the second-best month for stocks. As Ken Mahoney, CEO of Mahoney Asset Management, noted, “When the market is up 10% or more with a newly elected President, it has never gone down in the month of December.” Also, investors are likely awaiting the U.S. jobs report for November, out this Friday, before making any major moves. The numbers will be the U.S. Federal Reserve’s last look at the labor market before their rate-setting meeting from December 17 to 18. The markets are currently pricing in a 72.9% chance the Fed will lower rates by 25 basis points at that meeting, a more optimistic bet than the 59.4% last week, according to the CME FedWatch tool. If the Fed does cut rates, that incision will probably scrape off any lingering frostbite on the stock market as well, in time for them to hear sleigh bells ringing. — CNBC’s Bob Pisani, Sarah Min, Hakyung Kim, Sean Conlon, Lisa Kailai Han and Alex Harring contributed to this report.