How Hard Will September Hit the Markets?

If August’s extraordinary market volatilityhas you steeling yourself for worse this September, here’s a potentiallyrelaxing thought. Yes, if you’re going strictly by statistics, September hasthe worst historical track record of all twelve months for market returns. “It has experienced an average loss of 1.06%, incontrast to an average gain of 0.75% across the 11 other months,” according toMark Hulbert in his MarketWatch post September is the Cruelest Month for Your Stocks– or Is It? (I blogged about his post on August’s market track record not too long ago.) The question mark in thattitle kicks in when you remember that correlation does not equal causation –that is, a string of bad Septembers doesn’t automatically guarantee anotherone.

Meanwhile, if you’re readyfor some grim levity about August’s rock-and-roll ride, I enjoyed this ReformedBroker post How Cartoonists Covered the Market Crash. My personal favorite was the ailing Chinesedragon with a market roller coaster careening through its curved body (noinsult intended – in my opinion true market economies must include a relentlessand unbridled ability to laugh at yourself, …indeed at everything) – what wasyours?

Here’s hoping for a slow and steady climb thisSeptember for all of us!

Be Good,

Don Montanaro

CEO, TradeKing Group

www.tradeking.com

Follow Don on Twitter and hone your skills at TradeKing All-Stars. You can also followTradeKing on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or YouTube.

[image: September Poster Calendar by Jason Taellious on Flickr]

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