By Jesse Cohen
Investing.com - The summer vacation on Wall Street is unofficially over now that investors have returned from the long Labor Day weekend.
Stocks exit a volatile August and head into what is historically a terrible month for the market.
Since 1937, the average September performance of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 is a decline of 1%, while the Nasdaq has seen an average drop of 0.5%, making it the worst month of the year, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
Underling just how awful of a month it is for the U.S. stock market, the S&P has been down 57% of the time in September.
The S&P 500 advanced to a record high at the end of July, but it has since lost momentum amid growing fears over the U.S.-China trade war, with the S&P ending down nearly 2% in August.
With September being such a historically weak month for stocks, one can expect more volatility and turmoil in the weeks ahead as markets deal with ongoing uncertainty surrounding the U.S.-China trade war and a rising risk of recession.
The Cboe Volatility Index, or VIX, widely known as Wall Street’s fear index, is currently trading near its highest level since January, suggesting more wild swings to come.
But the good news is, once September ends, things could potentially start to get much better as we enter into what has historically been the best three-month stretch of the year from October through December.
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-- Reuters contributed to this report