Sell Wal-Mart in '09?

Wal-Mart was the darling of the S&P 500 in 2008. It returned almost 17 percent during the year as the as the rest of retail tumbled.

But will ending the year as the S&P 500 leader bring bad luck for the stock in the 2009?

Birinyi Associates says the laggards -- not the leaders -- from the S&P 500 are often the stocks that shine during a new year. During the last 12 years, the single largest contributors to the S&P 500 in a given year lost an average of 2.15 percent in the next. Meanwhile, the most negative stocks in the index rose 6.83 percent (this time around that' s General Electric).

Extra: Here's an interview with Laszlo Birinyi from Barron's.