February stock market history:
Bottom Line: Despite selloff the past two days, January still posted better than average results for the month as the Trump rally managed to hold it's gains into the early days of his administration. February's history is less than positive however.
February has the 4th worst history of any month since 1950 with an average return of -.05. What's interesting is that February has been positive far more often than not during that time. The market has actually been higher 57% of the time in the month. So what's that mean?
February has typically been a positive month but when it's been negative, there have been a smattering of years in which it's been extremely negative like it's 10.7% decline in 2009 and 9.2% decline in 2001. In 2016 stocks dropped an average of .2% for the month. It's anyone's guess what's next from here. Earnings season has generally been positive but stock values are also at historically high levels. If earnings season has a strong finish and Trump's policies, especially on corporate taxes and repatriation come to fruition there could be additional upside. If the policy follow through doesn't materialize and/or earnings season ends weaker than it started - February could prove to be a challenging month - as it typically has been for investors.