- As long as I've been studying markets (dating back to the crash of 1987), I've heard the old saying applied to equity markets, “Sell in May and walk away”.
- A look at seasonal patterns, though, show the month of May does not normally see a large selloff in the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average.
- On the other hand, those looking to sell may want to look ahead at the August through September timeframe.
Every year as April comes to an end we hear to phrases repeated. The first comes from the boy band NSYNC back in 2000, “It’s Gonna Be Me (the last word always sounding like May)”, and the ancient market saying telling us to “sell (equities) in May and walk away”. The first has led to countless recreations of the dancing in the song’s video, though not by me (May). The second reeks of seasonality, naturally piquing my analytical curiosity. I’ve put together a number of studies looking at US indexes over the years, and still haven’t found one that shows conclusive evidence to back up the phrase.
