Historical October Returns

I just read an article from the Oct. 4, 2004 Newsweek which discusses the historical stock market returns in October. It points out that October has historically been an average month, while September has been the worst.

The Dow's three largest one-day percentage drops were in October. Five of the Dow's (1896-present) and Wishire 5000's (1974-present) ten largest one-day percentage declines were in October.

Three of the Dow's and the Wilshire's ten best one-day gains were in October. These all occured following big losses.

September is the worst month for investors. It is the only month with more losses than gains.