september is traditionally the toughest month for stocks but this one is shaping up to be the worst since 2008 during the bleak days of the financial crisis seasonally inclined investors may wonder what that means for october dow jones market data took a look at how equities have done in the wake of past particularly brutal septembers but first how does the current month stack up the sp 500 spx  down 795 and the nasdaq composite comp  down 91 are on track for their worst september performances since 2008 the dow jones industrial average djia  down 725 is set for its worst september since 2002 dow jones market data found that in octobers that follow a 7 or larger fall in september the sp 500 rises 053 on average in october and sees a median gain of 181 that’s better than the average for all octobers at 047 and the median at 103 october is positive in years following an outsize september loss 5455 of the time versus 5745 for all octobers see table below dow jones market data found that in octobers following a september drop of 7 or more the dow has seen an average fall of 151 and a median drop of 146 that compares with an average rise of 037 for all octobers and a median gain of 079 the sp 500 has risen 4615 of the time in octobers that follow a 7 or more september decline versus a rise 576 of the time for all octobers see table below and here are the numbers for the nasdaq in october following a september drop of 9 or more since 1950 september has been the worst performing month of the year for the dow jones industrial average sp 500 and russell 1000 and the worst for the nasdaq composite since 1971 and the smallcap russell 2000 since 1979 according to the stock trader’s almanac the dow’s september drop is shaping up to be its biggest monthly decline of 2022 september’s drop for the sp 500 however is on track to be the worst monthly decline since june when it fell 84 according to factset the sp 500 dropped 88 in april the nasdaq saw a fall of more than 13 in april