A look at more ugly things to come: Monday’s stock-market selloff sets up worst September in 18 years

By Mark DeCambre

September trading is living up to its billing and then some.

Stocks on Monday were seemingly unraveling a bullish trend that now risks thrusting U.S. equity benchmarks into a bearish tilt that could set the stage for the worst September selloff in years for the major equity gauges.

The broad-market S&P 500 index SPX, -2.37% was down 2.5% at 3,326, at last check, putting it on the brink of sinking to 3,222.76, representing a 10% drop from its recent Sept. 2 record peak. A decline of 10% from a recent peak would meet the widely accepted definition for a correction but also sets the stage for an ugly September for the index.

With a decline of about 7.5%, the index is on track for its steepest decline in a September, since 2002, when it crumbled 11% in the month on the back of growing fears of inflating internet-related stocks, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -1.92% was off by about 3% on the session, with the index looking at a month-to-date drop of 5.6%, which would represent its sharpest drop in September since 2011, if the decline holds at this level through the month.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -3.01%, which has helped to support the lion’s share of the market’s rebound from late-March coronavirus-induced lows, is down 9.8% in the month to date, setting up the possibility of its steepest September drop since 2008, at the height of anxieties during the 2007-08 financial crisis…….more here

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