June: Finding Opportunity in a Tough Month
By: Looking at the historical returns of the Dow for the month of June, today's swoon is not a big surprise. Since 1896, the Dow has averaged a meek .35% return for the month of June. In fact, the Dow has lost ground in six of the past eight Junes, with its biggest drop in that period of almost 7% in 2002. The current streak is three losing Junes in a row.
Today, it is the financial stocks like Citigroup , American Express and JP Morgan Chase leading the Dow to the downside. In the past five years, the S&P Financials have had tough Junes, down 60% of the time and averaging a loss of -1.2% for the month when down.
So on whom does the sun shine in June? Energy and Technology. In the past five years, both sectors average up 80% of the time in June with average returns of 2.7% and 2.0%, respectively. Interestingly, Matt Nesto pointed out that some of today's biggest gainers are the refiners including Holly and Western Refining.
