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The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 166.44 points or 0.5% to close at 34,584.88, dragged down by a nearly 2.9% drop in Dow Inc. The S&P 500 shed 0.9% to 4,432.99 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.9% to close at 15,043.97.

History is not on the market’s side with the S&P 500 averaging a 0.4% decline for September, the worst of any month, according to the Stock Trader’s Almanac. Friday in particular begins a historically weak period for stocks as those September losses typically come in the back half of the month.

Some of the volatility that comes during September is often surrounding so-called quadruple witching, which occurred at the close Friday. This is the expiration of stock index futures, stock index options, stock options, and single-stock futures.

For the month, stocks are also trading in negative territory. The Dow is down about 2.2% in September. The S&P 500 is off by nearly 2% this month but still just 2.5% from its all-time high. The Nasdaq has lost 1.4% this month.

The Federal Reserve meets for two days next week and on Wednesday is expected to give further clues as to when it may start to slow its $120 billion in monthly bond purchases that have supported the recovery, but also perhaps aided in a jump in inflation.

European markets close lower as growth fears weigh on global sentiment; Anglo American sinks 8%

European markets closed lower on Friday as global investors continued to weigh the prospect of slowing economic growth.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed down by nearly 1%, having earlier been up by as much as 0.7%. Travel and leisure stocks added 1.1% to lead gains while basic resources fell 4%. The Stoxx 600 also saw a weekly decline of 1%, down for the third straight week.

Shares in Asia-Pacific were mixed on Friday after taking losses for much of the week as concerns about China’s regulatory crackdown and slowing global growth weighed on risk sentiment. China Evergrande Group shares continued to plummet amid fears over its debt problems.

Stateside, stocks dipped on Friday as investors remained cautious due to a resurgent Covid virus, and a Federal Reserve meeting next week.

Investors in recent days have been reacting to softer U.S. inflation data which tempered expectations of imminent tapering of asset purchases by the Federal Reserve, and weak retail sales figures from China, which suggested a slowdown in the global economic recovery.

Reference: CNBC