March: One of the best months for stocks

March is one of the best months for buying stocks during the year, but April is the strongest. S&P historically does the two best months of the year during March and April, second come November and December. Even if the index has been falling the first two months of the year, then during March and April it goes up, as in this case 2.58%.

During February the index has risen for the month but overall for the year is down by 5.5%. Dow also closed up for the month with 0.3%. During February historically the S&P should be unchanged, but this year it hides all the volatility that was present. 23 days out of the month the moves has been more than 1%, up until now the highest has been 20 days only during 1932 and 2009.

March will start with ISM Manufacturing index and if it is under 50, that means that we have a contraction in production activities. Chicago PMI data was also lower for the fourth consecutive month. There has been periods when that index has been below 50 without any problems or recessions, but that means that there are issues outside the US economy and strong US dollar.

CNBC

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