Monday, March 11, 2013

Month by Month

The S&P 500 Index made it through February with an increase of 1.1 percent. That may seem modest, but February has a track record of being pretty dismal for stocks. Since 1945, the S&P has recorded an average drop of 0.3 percent during that month, which makes it the second-worst, behind only September at negative 0.6 percent.

But March looks a lot brighter. The average month of March has seen an increase of 1.2 percent, making it the third-best month of all. Only December (with an average rise of 1.8 percent) and April (with an average rise of 1.5 percent) have seen better historical performance than March.

Altogether, the average monthly increase for the S&P 500 since 1945 is 0.7 percent. For the record, so far this March, the index is up a solid 2.2 percent.

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