--- title: Stocks Just Entered a Historically Scary Period. Here's Why description: Over time, August and September have been the worst two months of the year for the stock market. authors: - name: Paul J. Lim url: https://money.com/author/paul-j-lim-3/ at_money_since: 2014 articles: 104 covers: - Investing - Banking - Business - Economy and Politics - Housing - Identity Theft - Retirement - Taxes social: - https://x.com/pauljlim former_staff: true published: '2017-08-04T13:17:29.000Z' modified: '2024-04-17T06:26:29.000Z' section: Investing tags: - bear market - Bear Market Watch - dow jones industrial average - S&P 500 - stocks - wall street - lookingforward word_count: 358 canonical: https://money.com/august-september-worst-month-stock-market/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Trader Peter Tuchman, center, wears a "Dow 22,000" hat as he works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, August 2, 2017.](https://img.money.com/2017/08/170803-bulls-beware-stock-market-august-months.jpg) *Trader Peter Tuchman, center, wears a "Dow 22,000" hat as he works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, August 2, 2017.* Confidence is high on Wall Street, with the Dow Jones industrial average having broken through the 22,000 level for the first time ever [this week](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-stocks-idUSKBN1AI1F2). But before the bulls get ahead of themselves, they need to be mindful of something else that occurred this week: the beginning of August. Stocks are "entering into a historically challenging two-month stretch, and the market is long overdue for a decline in excess of 5%," says Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist for the market research firm CFRA. Indeed, since the end of World War II, the S&P 500 index of blue-chip U.S. stocks has averaged losses in only three months of the year: February, August, and September. And over time, August and September have been the worst two months for equity market returns. Since 1945, the S&P 500 has lost 0.2% on average in August and 0.7% in September. What's more, the second-worst ever monthly drop in equities took place in an August — back in 1998, when the S&P sank nearly 15% in just four weeks. August has been even more of a headache for investors more recently. Since 1987, the Dow Jones industrial average has posted average losses of 1.1% in August, making it the worst month for equities in the past 30 years, [according to Jeff Hirsch](http://jeffhirsch.tumblr.com/), editor of the Stock Trader's Almanac. To be sure, Stovall says without a recession in sight, a slide in stock prices in the coming months won't necessarily turn into a full-blown bear market — defined as a 20% or greater loss in stock values. Nevertheless, what makes this two-month stretch even scarier is that it is followed by October. To be fair, October has on balance been a decent month for the market, with the S&P 500 gaining 1% on average. But some of the most epic crashes in market history have taken place in that month. October marked the start of the [Wall Street Panic of 1907](https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/panic_of_1907), the stock market crash leading up to the [Great Depression in 1929](https://time.com/3544350/black-tuesday-1929/), and the [Black Monday crash of Oct. 19, 1987](https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/stock_market_crash_of_1987), when equities lost nearly a quarter of their value in a single day. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/august-september-worst-month-stock-market/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Investing", "item": "https://money.com/investing/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Stocks", "item": "https://money.com/stocks/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Stocks Just Entered a Historically Scary Period. Here's Why" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/august-september-worst-month-stock-market/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/august-september-worst-month-stock-market/", "name": "Stocks Just Entered a Historically Scary Period. Here's Why", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2017-08-04T13:17:29.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/august-september-worst-month-stock-market/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/august-september-worst-month-stock-market/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-04-17T06:26:29.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "Stocks Just Entered a Historically Scary Period. Here's Why", "articleSection": "Investing", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2017/08/170803-bulls-beware-stock-market-august-months.jpg", "width": 5760, "height": 3840, "caption": "170803-bulls-beware-stock-market-august-months" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Paul J. Lim", "url": "https://money.com/author/paul-j-lim-3/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/paul-j-lim-3/#author", "image": "https://img.money.com/2014/05/14-05-21_bio_author_lim.jpg?quality=85&w=190&h=190&crop=1", "email": "paul_lim@moneymail.com", "sameAs": [ "https://x.com/pauljlim" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2017-08-04T13:17:29.000Z", "description": "Over time, August and September have been the worst two months of the year for the stock market.", "abstract": "Over time, August and September have been the worst two months of the year for the stock market.", "@id": "https://money.com/august-september-worst-month-stock-market/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2024-04-17T06:26:29.000Z", "wordCount": 358, "keywords": [ "bear market", "Bear Market Watch", "dow jones industrial average", "S&P 500", "stocks", "wall street", "lookingforward" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Investment", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investment" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Stock", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stock" ] } ] } ] } ```