Just about a a month ago, we all heard the warnings, the statistical references as we looked at the calendar. September, considered the worst month of them all for the stock market was upon us. The statistics do not lie. This was the notorious month where we saw the financial collapse of 2008 put the global economy into a tailspin. It is also a precursor to ‘crash’ months, that being October — often considered the month where the worst possible drops tend to occur (1929, 1987 for a couple of examples).
Yet, when the closing bell rang last Friday I glanced at the chart to see a market with very little net movement. Overall, the SPX 500 was down 2 points, the Dow Industrials fared worse dropping only .6% as the Russell 2K and Nasdaq were in positive ground. To wit, the Nasdaq hit all time highs around mid month.
Sentiment was mixed but market indicators improved throughout the monthg, and some individual stocks made some strong moves – like Amazon, which rose some 8% on no news and Apple pushed higher by 5% after its release of a new iPhone. There were many other strong names (and poor performers, too).
The bottom line here is to pay attention to the market action and not the guessers, pundits or those who claim to make forecasts for a living. The market will never lie to you.
