Barclays: Three reasons to not sell in May

The old adage in the financial markets is to ‘sell in May and go away’, and many investors still listen to this advice. However, Barclays has three reasons why you should hold on to your stocks this summer. First off, while summer returns tend to be lower than other periods, they are still positive. Second, lower summer returns are more pronounced when winter returns are negative. This past winter, returns were positive. Finally, historically, lower summer returns have been associated with a major downturn on economic data. This year, that shouldn’t be the case (at least in the US). We’re more likely to see a rebound in economic data. In a nutshell, there shouldn’t be much of summer seasonality effect on equities in 2015. (VIEW LINK)