{"id":12700,"date":"2023-09-19T19:21:03","date_gmt":"2023-09-19T19:21:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/?p=12700"},"modified":"2024-01-10T17:14:54","modified_gmt":"2024-01-10T17:14:54","slug":"is-september-always-a-terrible-month-for-stocks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/is-september-always-a-terrible-month-for-stocks\/","title":{"rendered":"Is September Always A Terrible Month For Stocks?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Tim B. from Jacksonville, FL asks:<\/em> Hi Mitch, I\u2019ve noted in many articles and research that September is generally a terrible month for stocks. Looks like the first week of the month has been proving that right. Do you see this weakness continuing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mitch\u2019s Response:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks for your question, Tim. What you\u2019re referring to is the \u201cSeptember Effect,\u201d which says that September has been the worst-performing month for the U.S. going back almost 100 years.1<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a statistic that supports this view \u2013 from 1928 to 2022, the S&P 500 has averaged a decline during the September month, which sets it apart from the rest of the calendar year. Not every September is negative, of course, but it\u2019s easy to see why the \u201cSeptember Effect\u201d has gained popularity among investor circles and in the financial media.2<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are even a few theories for why September returns, on average, have been materially weaker than other months. Some say that traders are returning from summer vacation and want to take profits and harvest losses, to set up for the final quarter of the year. Institutional investors like mutual funds take similar actions. Others claim that investors are selling stocks to pay for return-to-school expenses. And yet another theory posits that because the \u201cSeptember Effect\u201d is such a widely acknowledged anomaly, investor psychology makes its weakness a self-fulfilling prophecy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t buy into any of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Protect Your Investments from the \u2018September Effect\u2019<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

September can be a challenging month for some investors – sudden ups and downs in the market are hard to manage. But, even when your uncertainty levels are high, do you know that there are several positive aspects of volatility?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, all Mitch\u2019s Mailbox readers have access to our exclusive guide, \u201cUsing Market Volatility to Your Advantage”<\/em>. This guide focuses on some situations where volatility could have some potential hidden benefits in driving better investing decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have $500,000 or more to invest, download our free guide today!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Download Our Guide, \u201cUsing Market Volatility to Your Advantage\u201d3<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For one, there have been plenty of years when September delivered nicely positive returns. It\u2019s also true that while the average return for September is negative, the median return for the month is positive. That\u2019s important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But perhaps the biggest takeaway for readers here, I think, is that when you remove some of the big, historical market crashes for September, the month turns back to being positive on average. In fact, even just removing 2001 (September 11 attacks) and 2008 (Lehman Brothers failed on September 15, 2008) would do the trick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It follows that I do not have a good answer to your question about whether I see weakness continuing in September. Looking out two or three weeks to forecast markets is just a guessing game, and I don\u2019t make decisions based on such short timelines. What I will say, however, is that investors should not make decisions based on calendar quirks or other mantras like the \u201cSeptember Effect\u201d or \u201cSell in May and Go Away. The stock market doesn\u2019t adhere to a calendar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the meantime, discovering ways to protect your long-term investments from market changes could be a good solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I believe that there are positive aspects of market volatility that you don\u2019t want to overlook. In our free guide, \u201cUsing Market Volatility to Your Advantage\u201d<\/em>4<\/sup>, all readers will receive our insight on:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 How market volatility can \u201cshake up\u201d complacent investors
\u2022 Potential bargains that may be uncovered through turbulence
\u2022 Why volatility may help prevent overheating and market \u201cbubbles\u201d
\u2022 And more\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have $500,000 or more to invest, download this free guide today by clicking on the link below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While it’s true that on average September is the worst-performing month of the year, when you dig a little deeper the “September effect” is more myth than fact.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[66,71],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mitchs-mailbox","category-private-client-group"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12700"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12700\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12702,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12700\/revisions\/12702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}