On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average became the latest major U.S. equity-market gauge to experience a “death cross.”

It was the first time the ominous signal has appeared on the price chart of the blue-chip stock gauge since November 2023, according to Dow Jones Market Data. The Dow ended up shedding 527.16 points, or 1.3%, to finish the day at 39,142.23.

The “death cross” for the Dow comes just a few days after similar signals flashed for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite. In March, the Russell 2000 experienced one as well.

A death cross is seen by technical analysts as an ominous signal. It occurs when the 50-day moving average of an asset or index crosses below its 200-day moving average. This is typically taken as a sign that a correction might be morphing into a more powerful downtrend.

However, historical data show investors don’t have much reason to be concerned. In the past, death crosses have been followed by largely mixed performance for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq. On average, more losses were seen over the following month — but by the six-month mark, returns were back in the green.

For the Dow, performance after a death cross has been consistently positive, even in the short term. Dow Jones data tracking performance after every death cross since 1950 shows the Dow was marginally higher one week later, with even stronger gains further out.

Following the past 20 death crosses, the Dow’s performance has been, on average, even stronger.

This is why some on Wall Street refer to death crosses as a lagging indictor. That is, it essentially is telling us what we already know: That the asset or index has been falling. As far as what might come next, it’s predictive power is more muddled.

“A technical death cross isn’t the end-all, be-all knockout that it might seem to be,” said Bret Kenwell, U.S. investment and options analyst at eToro.

U.S. stocks finished mixed on Thursday, as the Nasdaq Composite joined the Dow in the red, while the S&P 500 eked out a close in the green.

The U.S. equity and bond markets will be closed on Friday for the Good Friday holiday.