what is sell in may and go away 
 sell in may and go away is a well known saying in finance it is based on stocks historical underperformance during the six month period from may to october the historical pattern was popularized by the stock trader s almanac which found investing in stocks as represented by the dow jones industrial average from november to april and switching into fixed income the other six months would have produced reliable returns with reduced risk since 1950 1the divergence has remained pronounced in recent years with the s p 500 index gaining an average of about 2 from may to october since 1990 compared with an average of approximately 7 from november to april according to fidelity investments 2an academic paper that surveyed stock markets outside u s found the same pattern calling the seasonal divergence trend remarkably robust 3theories for the seasonal divergencefinancial markets were once influenced by the seasonal patterns tied to agriculture but these have likely faded to insignificance given farming s dramatically reduced economic weight seasonality in investment flows may persist as a result of year end financial industry and business bonuses with the mid april u s income tax filing deadline possibly contributing whatever fundamental considerations may be in play the historical pattern is more pronounced as a result of the october stock market collapses in 1987 and 2008 the last significant stock market decline during the period from may to october took place in 2011 with the s p 500 down 8 1 the s p 500 declined 0 3 over the same months in 2015 