September Surprises Investors In A Good Way
September 30, 2009 by Tisa Silver
Filed under Finance
The worst month of the year actually ended on a positive note!
September is typically the worst month of the year for the stock market, but all three major indexes posted gains.
Photo by nDevilTV, courtesy of flickr
Dow (DJIA) - Price on 9/1/09: 9,310.60, Price at close on 9/30/09: 9,712.28, one month rate of return: +4.31 percent.
Nasdaq - Price on 9/1/09: 1,968.89, Price at close on 9/30/09: 2,122.42, one month rate of return: +7.8 percent.
S&P 500 – Price on 9/1/09: 998.04 , Price at close on 9/30/09: 1,057.08, one month rate of return: +5.92 percent.
Historically, October is also a not-so good month for the stock market. The worst crashes have happened in October (1929 and 1987), and October of 2008 was dismal, to put it mildly.
According to portfolio manager Lawrence Creatura, often times October is “between a hurricane and a root canal.”
Having just come from the dentist’s office, I can appreciate the comparison. And I wish this type of pain on no man, woman or their portfolio!
Any predictions for October? Things have run up pretty far, pretty fast. Will October add to September’s high returns or erase them? Check out what the analysts are saying, one bull and one bear, both from CNBC.com.
