Do the number of days in a month affect monthly return? (seasonality)?

Question

When I see data like monthly return on news or tv, I always find the concept a bit strange, because obviously if you calculate monthly return for February and March, all things being equal, the monthly return of March would be slightly larger than February due to the fact March has more days than February. Is this the case in real life?

Answer 1

This really depends on the instrument you are invested in. If you have money in a savings account which compounds monthly at , say 6%. You will earn 3% every month be it February or March. if you have an instrument like a zero coupon bond and yields don't change your interest compounds continuously and you return in March will be greater than your return in February