[Gaffer]

Seriously....go Google this guy and look at his picture. Would you even by a used car from him?

[paul544]

By using this weird trick... I found in the Bible..

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

Sell in May and go away.

[Zathras]

Other than short summer rally, usually some validity.

[SES1066]

An unmentioned aspect that needs to be brought forward, TAXES! Selling investments means that the profit/loss have tax implications. Short term is regular income, investments held a year and a day are capital gain/loss. The taxpayer must pay attention to the entire picture!

[cicero2k]

I first heard of this in the late 1970’s, from Norman Fosback. “Sell in May and Go Away” has worked since.

It never became mainstream, smart money since. Otherwise the advantage would be arbitraged away.

http://www.amazon.com/Market-Sophisticated-Approach-Profits-Street/dp/0917604482/ref=la_B001KMO85K_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1399139182&sr=1-1

That said, I personally switch to utilities May to October and switch back to non utilities November to April. These asset classes are less (but not negative) correlated.

[freedomlover]

First you start with some cattle futures . . .

[sefarkas]

In my opinion, the May swoon is a result of folks funding their IRA accounts for tax season and deploying that cash during tax season. Market prices are “marginal prices” and when the buyers are finished deploying their new IRA funds, the number of buyers available in May is relatively small. There is a similar effect in the fall when folks use their savings to pay college tuition due for their children. In that case, the ranks of the sellers swell and marginal prices fall until buyers can be found. The two dimensional charts of DJIA, S&P500, etc. versus time greatly oversimplify the interaction of market participants and generally ignore exogenous events in the political world which simultaneously change assumptions in price models used by institutional investors.