Is there are right time of year, a good time of year to invest in stocks? Absolutely not, according to one money expert, and that's because there's nothing seasonal about stock markets.
There's one theory that the last five days of December and the first two days of January constitute the "Santa Rally" that happens each year, during which stocks usually go up for a week, making it a good time for short-term investment.
But money expert Pat Shinn says there's no sound reasoning behind a "Santa Rally," and short-term investing is often subject to speculative risk.
"This time of year you're going to hear about seasonality. That's the belief that there are good times of the year to invest and there are bad times.
"One of the popular ones is 'sell in May and go away.'
"That's saying that November through April are good months for the market, and then those other months are not.
"We have 'October is a bad month,' which is not true most of the time," according to Shinn, who keeps listeners up with the stock markets each weekday on Houston's 740 KTRH.
"I am not big on seasonality, I don't invest with seasonality in mind.
"Some people make the argument that pension money or 401(k) money comes in and institutional investors leave for a few days. I do not buy that," he adds.
"In the long run, the things to watch above all are corporate profit, monetary policy, inflation and not what time of year it is."
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