We are riding into August amid a wave of record earnings reports for the second straight year. That's the good news. As it turns out August hasn't been a friend to investors generally over the years. Since 1950, August has been the 2nd worst month of the year for stock market performance. That being said it has been higher more often than not. Here's the story of the oxymoron known as August.
Since 1950, stocks are higher 54% of the time but the average is a loss of .3%. We're also on a three-year losing streak in August as the last positive year for stocks was in 2014. It tells you something about the market generally that the second worst month generally is positive, and the loss is less than a third of one percent.
Something August has going against it is September. September is the worst month for stocks and many investors head for the sidelines this time of year anticipating seasonal weakness. That might explain some of the recent action leading into the month. Most importantly never let your money and emotions cross paths. That's when mistakes happen.
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