Almanac Trader — Typical August Trading – Better Open in…

Over the last 21 years, the first eight or nine trading days of August have exhibited weakness while mid- and late-month has been somewhat better with the major indexes trading sideways before jumping to close out the month. In post-election years going back to 1950, August has generally opened with strength, accumulating gains on average over the first and second trading days before reversing and sinking until shortly after mid-month. At which point, there was usually a bounce of varying magnitude and duration occurred before the major indexes slipped into choppy/sideways trading to close out the month.