Thackray’s Investors Guide and EquityClock show us a tendency for August to be a relatively weaker month – Brooke Thackray notes it is the 4th weakest month from an historic perspective. My observations are that the S&P500 is prone to an even greater tendency to selloff if July is strong.
Below is the EquityClock (www.equityclock.com) chart of the S&P500 – note the tendency for markets to weaken from about the third week of July into the end of August.
Hey–wait a minute–that’s, like, right now – right?
Below are charts of the S&P500’s performance over the summers of 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2005, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015. Each of these summers saw strong markets into July. Followed by strong selloffs in August.
1997
1998
1999
2000
2005
2007
2010
2011
2013
2014
2015
Based on the historical pattern of weaker Augusts after strong July’s, my thoughts are to look for any signs of weakening from this point. I am inclined to hedge downside risk or raise more cash if markets appear to be following historic patterns.
One Comment
Thanks for the verification I have started to short the s&p this morning as the rounding off at the top of the chart looks and feels like a summer correction given the lack of caution in the marketplace…cheers…gene