Mark Twain effect

In some stock markets, the Mark Twain effect is the phenomenon of stock returns in October being lower than in other months.^[1] The name comes from a line in Mark Twain's Pudd'nhead Wilson: "October. This is one of the peculiarly dangerous months to speculate in stocks. The others are July, January, September, April, November, May, March, June, December, August, and February."^[2]

The quotation is a sarcastic assertion that speculation in stocks is always dangerous. The fact that Twain specifically picks out October initially is taken as a reference to an "October effect", as exemplified by the 1929, 1987 and 2008 stock market crashes which roughly occurred in October.

References[]

^ "How true are stock market sayings?". The Economic Times. December 21, 2015. Retrieved November 23, 2017.
^ "ASU research helps debunk myth of stock market 'weekend effect'". Arizona State University. February 1, 2017. Retrieved November 23, 2017.

v t Financial markets
Types of markets	Primary market Secondary market Third market Fourth market
Types of stocks	Common stock Golden share Preferred stock Restricted stock Tracking stock
Share capital	Authorised capital Issued shares Shares outstanding Treasury stock
Participants	Broker-dealer Day trader Floor broker Floor trader Investor Market maker Proprietary trader Quantitative analyst Financial law Regulator Stock trader
Exchanges	Electronic communication network List of stock exchanges Trading hours Multilateral trading facility Over-the-counter Dark pool (private exchange)
Stock valuation	Alpha Arbitrage pricing theory Beta Bid–ask spread Book value Capital asset pricing model Capital market line Dividend discount model Dividend yield Earnings per share Earnings yield Fed model Net asset value Security characteristic line Security market line T-model
Trading theories and strategies	Algorithmic trading Buy and hold Contrarian investing Day trading Dollar cost averaging Efficient-market hypothesis Fundamental analysis Growth stock Market timing Modern portfolio theory Momentum investing Mosaic theory Pairs trade Post-modern portfolio theory Random walk hypothesis Sector rotation Style investing Swing trading Technical analysis Trend following Value averaging Value investing
Related terms	Block trade Cross listing Dividend Dual-listed company DuPont analysis Efficient frontier Flight-to-quality Government bond Greenspan put Haircut Initial public offering Long Margin Market anomaly Market capitalization Market depth Market manipulation Market trend Mean reversion Momentum Open outcry Position Public float Public offering Rally Returns-based style analysis Reverse stock split Share repurchase Short selling Slippage Speculation Stock dilution Stock exchange Stock market index Stock split Trade Uptick rule Volatility Voting interest Yield

This economics-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by .

Mark Twain effect

See also[]

References[]