BY THE NUMBERS

Dow futures rallied Friday, reversing an earlier sharp decline, on the first day of October after the worst month of the year. Premarket trading turned on good trial news on Merck's (MRK) oral Covid treatment. The Dow, which fared relatively better than the S&P 500 and Nasdaq in last week's plunge, suffered the most severe slide Thursday, down 1.6%. The S&P 500 fell about 1.2%. The Nasdaq, getting some relief from retreating bond yields, dropped 0.4%. (CNBC)

* For September, the Dow fell 4.3%; the S&P 500 fell nearly 4.8%; and the Nasdaq fell 5.3%.
* For the third quarter, which also ended Thursday, the Dow dropped 1.9%; the S&P 500 gained 0.2%; and the Nasdaq fell 0.4%.
* However, all three benchmarks were still solidly higher for the year, with respective gains of roughly 10.6%, 14.7% and 12.1%.
* Historically, October has had some violent sell-offs but overall is typically the start of better seasonal performance for stocks.

The 10-year Treasury yield ticked lower Friday, around 1.5%. Earlier this week, the 10-year yield saw three-month highs above 1.567%. The government on Friday released an inflation measure the Federal Reserve uses to set monetary policy. The core personal consumption expenditures price index in August rose 3.6% from a year ago, slightly above estimates and the same as July's increase, which tied a 30-year high. (CNBC)