May Selling Adage Challenged by Bullish Markets, Fed Easing and Social Media
Bouman and Jacobsen called it the Halloween Indicator, attempting to drill down into the psychological and logistical complexities behind the ‘Sell in May and Go Away’ adage in their paper on the subject. They described the May-October period as seasonally down in some 36 out of 37 developed/emerging markets studied, with European markets showing the strongest adherence. Indeed, by DJIA measure stocks have on the average climbed 7.4% in the Nov. 1- Apr. 30 period since the 1950’s, mapping only 0.4% for the following May-Oct. period. Moreover, some of the worst six-month intervals have occurred during this period and the…