February's stock market history
Bottom Line: Aside from the great news for the 52% of adults who own stocks and America's companies benefiting from record investment...I love the added interest people have in stocks. Especially when I hear from younger adults that are just getting started. The US stock market is the greatest wealth creation machine in the history of the world and I love seeing people learn, invest and benefit. Of late there have been more requests for stock market information coming in than at any point since the recession. Always happy to oblige here's a rundown on February's stock market history...
Since 1950 here's the scorecard:
- Positive years: 39
- Negative years: 29
- Average rate of return...+.01%
So, on average stocks are higher 57% of the time this month but have produced an average rate of return that's as small as there can be. In other words, on average, February's history is a flat one. It's the 4th worst year of the month for stocks historically (which isn't so bad when you consider there have still been positive average returns) but it's rare for it to be an exceptional month for stocks. The best February was in 1991 with an 11% return and the worst was in 2002 with a 6% loss. We just wrapped up the single best month for stocks since May of 2016 and the best January since 1987 - so as we know this has been a rule breaking market. What will it hold? Until next month...