Along with the warm weather, spring always brings about the old debate of whether it is a good idea to, “Sell in May and go away.” Markets tend to have their stronger performance between October and May, which has certainly held true in the past year.
There are many theories as to why this could be true:
- Investors tend to fund their IRA accounts either early or later in the year
- Lower summer productivity for business
- And the most obvious, people prefer to be outside rather than inside investing their money
(especially in Michigan).
However, this year could be different. If you look at monthly returns in Election years (which like it or not we are in the middle of) the above picture is contradicted.
Beware of strategies involved in short-term timing of the markets. Many investors end up hurting themselves by trying to time their investments in and out of the market.
Source: The Big Picture http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/