Worried About the September Effect? Here’s What History Tells Us About Investing During What’s Generally Been the Worst Month for Stocks.
September has delivered an average decline of more than 1%.
Overview
The S&P 500's performance in recent years and recent weeks has offered investors reason for optimism. Over these past few years, the famous benchmark has soared, led by companies involved in the high-growth artificial intelligence (AI) story. These tech giants, from Nvidia to Alphabet, have delivered revenue growth thanks to their AI investments and say this opportunity is far from over.
In more recent times, investor interest has broadened into other sectors, from healthcare to consumer-oriented stocks. And better-than-expected second-quarter earnings reports from a great majority of S&P 500 companies have reinforced this momentum. About 87% of companies reported positive earnings per share surprises, while 77% reported positive revenue surprises, according to the FactSet Earnings Insight newsletter.
Details
All of this has helped the benchmark climb -- even amid headwinds such as rising inflation and uncertainty about when the Federal Reserve will move on interest rates. Now, however, in the early trading days of September, some investors might be thinking more about the headwinds than the tailwinds. That's because of the September Effect. Let's check out what history tells us about investing during what's generally been the worst month for stocks.
Source
Originally published at www.fool.com.