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With the S&P 500 on pace for a 16% yearly gain already, investors find themselves at a familiar crossroads: lock in profits while they are hot, or stay greedy and bet on a typical year-end rally that could push stocks to new highs.
The S&P 500
SPX just defied one of Wall Street’s most entrenched seasonal clichés — “sell in May and go away” — with its strongest May-through-October stretch since 1950. Historically, this six-month stretch is the worst seasonal period for stocks, with an average gain of only 2.1%, according to data compiled by LPL Financials. But this time, the S&P 500 advanced 22.9% during the period, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA was up nearly 17% and the Nasdaq Composite COMP surged 36%, according to FactSet data.
