By Mark Hulbert, MarketWatch
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (MarketWatch) -- The stock market definitely has its work cut out for it in September.
The month's historical record is nothing short of dismal, and there doesn't appear to be any easy way to wriggle out from underneath the sheer force of that record.
Since 1896, for example, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) was created, the Dow has lost an average of 1.07% in September. The average gain for all other months is 0.71%. That spread of 1.78 percentage points is statistically significant at the 95% confidence level that statisticians often use to determine if a pattern is most likely genuine.
