The Change in May

“Sell in May and go away” is a widely followed stock market saying with some basis in truth. The six months from May to the end of October, as compared against returns in the November-to-April stretch — have on average underperformed. But that record may be changing.

Stocks over the six-month span ending in October have posted comparatively weaker returns in only three of the past five years. Two years ago, in 2017, that stretch offered a gain of more than 8 percent gain, compared with only a 2.8 percent gain from November of 2017 to end of April of 2018.

If this summer outperforms the previous six months, we’re in for some good times. The period from the end of last October through the last day of April produced a return of roughly 8.2 percent, according to FactSet data.