Markets down again in horrible August

This year, Wall Street’s bears came out of hibernation in August.

The Dow Jones industrial average had its worst month in more than five years in August, buckling by 6.6 percent as companies in China cratered and the Federal Reserve got closer to reining in its easy-money program for the first time in nine years.

The Dow closed down 114.98 points on Monday, or 0.7 percent — bringing the August swoon to 1,161.83 points, or 6.6 percent, the worst month for the Dow since May 2010, when it plummeted almost 8 percent.

The Nasdaq, a gauge of tech stocks, fell 6.9 percent in the month, and the broader S&P 500 index fell 6.3 percent. Losses for both indexes were the deepest since May 2012.

While Monday’s decline is larger than normal for stock markets this year, it seemed tame on the heels of a rollercoaster week in which investors saw stocks plummet more than 1,000 points in the opening minute.

Problems started last month on Aug. 10, when China devalued its currency. After a week of tepid trading, nervous investors all over the world pulled their money and sent markets into the red.

Wall Street is also waiting on tenterhooks for any information that will come out of the Federal Open Market Committee’s September meeting — when it could raise rates for the first time since July 2006.

The August rout was something like “payback” for investors after getting four years of gains, Kevin Caron, a market strategist at Stifel Nicolaus, told The Post.

“You’ve had a couple of different events that have disturbed an otherwise quiet — and quite generous — market in terms of returns,” he added.

After some market watchers pushed back expectations of a hike — some as far back as 2017 — many are expecting the cost of money to go up by the end of the year.

“To delay the inevitable would be somewhat damaging to the Fed’s credibility,” said Wedbush Securities’ Michael James.