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Aug.25
10:59 AM ET
With Labor Day weekend coming this week, the markets have had a tough summer. Is this a normal part of "sell in May" or is this year different? While the Dow and S&P are down over 6% since Memorial Day, they are far better off than their worst summer in 1974. Here's how this year compares for the major indices.
Summer Performance (Memorial Day to Labor Day)
- Dow (As of Friday's close): Down - 6.8%
- Since 1900
- Avg gain +3.2%
- Up 64% of the time, down 36% of the time
- Biggest gain + 62% in 1932
- Biggest drop - 17% in 1974
- Last 5 yrs (2003-07)
- Avg gain +2.0%
- Up 60% of the time, down 40% of the time
- Biggest gain + 9.5% in 2003
- Biggest drop - 1.1% in 2007
- S&P (As of Friday's close): Down - 6.1%
- Since 1928
- Avg gain +3.8%
- Up 69% of the time, down 31% of the time
- Biggest gain + 83% in 1932
- Biggest drop - 19% in 1974
- Last 5 yrs (2003-07)
- Avg gain +1.7%
- Up 60% of the time, down 40% of the time
- Biggest gain + 8.0% in 2003
- Biggest drop - 2.8% in 2007
- Nasdaq (As of Friday's close): Down - 1.2%
- Since 1971
- Avg gain +1.9%
- Up 59% of the time, down 41% of the time
- Biggest gain + 32% in 2001
- Biggest drop - 23% in 1974
- Last 5 yrs (2003-07)
- Avg gain +3.3%
- Up 60% of the time, down 40% of the time
- Biggest gain + 19.9% in 2003
- Biggest drop - 7.2% in 2007
Despite the down summer, there have been some summer winners. The best performers of the Dow this summer have been:
- Johnson & Johnson [JNJ
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], up 10.0% for the summer - McDonalds [MCD
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], up 9.9% for the summer
- Proctor & Gamble [PG
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], up 9.7% for the summer
- Wal Mart [WMT
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], up 6.6% for the summer
- Hewlett Packard [HPQ
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], up 4.7% for the summer
Weighing on the Dow this summer have been
- AIG [AIG
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], down 46.2% for the summer
- GM [GM
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], down 40.7% for the summer
- Alcoa [AA
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], down 19.8% for the summer
- Boeing [BA
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], down 19.6% for the summer
- AT&T [T
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], down 19.1% for the summer
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