By The Numbers:

From Direxion Funds:

WINNER BY MONTH - The best monthly performance on a total return basis for the S&P 500 over the last decade (1999-2008) has occurred in April, October or November in 9 of the 10 years. The only year that one of these 3 months did not lead the way was in calendar year 2000 when March was the best month. With still 4 months to go in 2009, April’s +9.6% gain is the frontrunner YTD. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index of 500 widely held stocks that is generally considered representative of the US stock market (source: BTN Research).

NOT UP BUT DOWN - Actual worldwide demand for oil in 2008 was 86.2 million barrels a day. Worldwide demand for oil for 2009 is now expected to finish the year at 83.8 million barrels a day. When the year began, global demand had been projected at 88.0 million barrels of oil a day (source: Facts Global Energy).

WAY TOO BIG - It was 1-year ago this upcoming Wednesday (9/16/08) that the Fed bailed out AIG, the world’s largest insurance company, with an $85 billion loan that gave the government an 80% ownership in the company. The Fed believed the critical role that AIG played in the global financial system positioned the firm as “too big to fail.” At the time of its bailout, AIG held $440 billion of credit default swaps (source: Newsweek).

WORK OR LACK THEREOF - There were 14.9 million unemployed Americans as of the end of August 2009, not counting an additional 9.1 million individuals that are working part-time today only because they have been unable to find full-time employment. The number of Americans that fall into this part-time worker category has increased by 3.3 million in the last 12 months (source: Department of Labor).

Source: Direxion Funds "By The Numbers." http://www.imakenews.com/direxion/index000196240.cfm?elq=98ac73344efb40a3bb340d429f2b8f50