“Sell in May and get out” is a proverb referring to the historically weaker performance of stocks from May to October compared to the other half of the year.
Since 1990, the S&P 500 has averaged about 2% annual returns from May to October, compared to about 7% from November to April.
The model did not survive in 2020 and is likely to be outweighed by more pressing considerations in other years.
Investors may try to capitalize on this model by switching to less economically sensitive stocks from May to October based on historical data.