The autumn stock market fall

September traditionally heralds a tough season for stocks. And with the euro crisis dragging on, this autumn promises to be no different.

Stocks, like leaves, "feel the pull of gravity" in September, says Dominic Picarda in the Investors Chronicle. September is Wall Street's worst month, with the Dow Jones Index losing an average of 1% since 1900. British stocks have typically lost 0.75% in September since 1935.

Shares look especially vulnerable this year. Markets have been looking forward to more quantitative easing (QE), or money printing, from the Federal Reserve. They have also been waiting for the European Central Bank (ECB) to start buying peripheral debt on a large scale in order to lower these countries' borrowing costs to sustainable levels. But neither of these moves is a given, and having largely priced them in "there is scope for at least mild disappointment, if not something more extreme", says Neil McLeish of Morgan Stanley.

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