Despite a weak start to the last week of October, the Dow and S&P are now both up 2.58% and 0.85% for the month as of Thursday's closing session. Furthermore, Even though October ranks as a slightly positive month historically on average, up more than 53% of the time for all three major U.S. Indexes, the Nasdaq Composite has trailed behind, currently down 1.2% month to date. However, lets not forget that October has brought some good news, with the Dow, S&P, and Nasdaq Composite all reaching new 2009 closing highs on 10/19 of 10,092.19, 1097.91, and 2176.32, respectively and GDP turning positive yesterday.
Monthly Streaks & MTD Stats:
- The Dow is up 250.3 points or 2.58% MTD, tracking for the 4th consecutive month of gains, its longest monthly winning streak since a 7-month rally ending on 1/31/07 **The Dow up 17.9% in the current 4-month rally, its best 4-month % gain since 7/2009 when it rose 20.54%
- The S&P is up 9.03 points or 0.85% MTD, tracking for the 8th consecutive month of gains, its longest monthly winning streak since an 8-month rally ending on 1/31/07 **The S&P is up 31% in the current 8-month rally, its best 8-month % gain since 4/1999 when it rose 39.4%
- The NASDAQ Composite is down -24.87 points or -1.17% MTD, halting what would be an 8-month rally, current streak is 7-months **The Nasdaq is on track to its first decline since 2/2009 when it fell -6.68%
Best/Worst October Gains:
- The Dow is on track to its best October % gain since 2006 when it gained 3.44%
- The S&P is on track to its best October % gain since 2007 when it gained 1.48%
- The Nasdaq is on track to its worst October % drop since 2008 when it fell -17.4%
Historical October Gains:
Historically, October on average has yielded positive returns ~54% of the time for the Dow and S&P, but only 38% of the time for the Nasdaq Composite when September has been a positive month: (Data tracked back to 1971)
- On average the Dow has increased 1.25% during October, when September has been a positive month, Up 54% of the time, Down 46% of the time.
- On average the S&P has increased 1.5% during October, when September has been a positive month, Up 54% of the time, Down 46% of the time.
- On average the Nasdaq has increased 1.04% during October, when September has been a positive month, Up 38% of the time, Down 62% of the time.
Continue on to the next page to see Top/Bottom 5 stocks for each of the Indices MTD as of Thursday's settled prices: