seasonality

For some, August marks the beginning of the end of summer. For others, August is time for back to school shopping. For many investors, however, August is also a rally killer month. According to analysts at Argus Research, the current "unsettled environment" in the stock market also happens to be "...

Today is the last trading day of July, marking a good time for traders to start setting the table for August. The eighth month of the year may bring hot temperatures outside, but on Wall Street, historical data suggest August is ice cold. Historical Performances Over the past 20 years, the S&P...

Investors looking to allocate some of their investment dollars to a sector that typically outperforms others in the summer should consider utilities, at least according to CNBC's Landon Dowdy. Dowdy detailed on Thursday some of the top performing sectors during the summer months. According to Dowdy...

Anyone familiar with the Wall Street adage “sell in May and go away” knows the summer months aren’t typically the best time of year to own stocks. However, since the Financial Crisis, July has certainly been an exception to the rule. The S&P 500 has logged gains in five of the...

After a surprisingly strong June, investors now turn their attention to the start of July and the third quarter. For all the talk about the summer months being unkind to stocks, July defies that conventional wisdom. Over the past two decades, the S&P 500 has notched an average July gain of 0.3...

Commodities are on the mend. That much is confirmed by the year-to-date performance of the PowerShares DB Com Indx Trckng Fund(ETF) (NYSE: DBC) and other diversified exchange-traded products. DBC is up 15.3 percent this year. Mending Commodities Some individual commodities, namely energy and...

For the fourth year in a row, traders subscribing to the old Wall Street adage “sell in May and go away” are off to a rough start. Barring a massive Tuesday selloff, the S&P 500 is on pace to finish the month of May up about 1.4 percent. While most of the “sell in May”...

According to the latest data from TickerTags, Kate Spade & Co (NYSE: KATE)’s surprise sale last week was an aggressive play that may have paid off in a big way for the handbag retailer. TickerTags monitors social media sites to identify trends by searching for words or phrases that appear...

Two things about Friday’s trading session should come as no surprise to investors: 1. Volume is extremely light. 2. The market is up. With the Memorial Day holiday right around the corner, the “Pre-Holiday Effect” trade is once again paying off for traders. “Research shows...

U.S. retail sales posted a 1.3 percent gain in April, their largest leap in more than a year. But, do the latest retail numbers mean that fear of a U.S. recession and/or a major stock market pullback is no longer in play? “This is clear evidence that consumer spending is alive and well,...

Retailer stocks are typically hit pretty hard during the sluggish summer investing months, and the Q1 numbers out of department stores were lackluster at best. “The widespread April sales deceleration (including a beacon of consistency like COST (Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ: COST)),...

Citi expects salesforce.com, inc. (NYSE: CRM) to report "seasonally softer" first-quarter results on May 18 after the company reported "monster" results for the fourth quarter, which took some businesses from the first quarter. "Inputs suggest strong business activity for CRM in Q1, but in context...

Political pundits have another five months to argue about which of the leading presidential candidates would be best for the U.S. economy. But politics aside, Hillary Clinton may be the best choice for stock investors in the near term for one simple reason: President Barack Obama. More specifically...

Maybe it is a case of not letting exchange-traded funds such as the PowerShares S&P 500 Low Volatility Portfolio (PowerShares Exchange-Traded Fund Trust II (NYSE: SPLV)) have all the fun, but emerging markets equivalents are joining their U.S.-focused low volatility counterparts in...

Priceline Group Inc (NASDAQ: PCLN) reported another quarter of strong performance, with stable take rates and robust growths across all key channels and geographies. Jefferies’ Brian Fitzgerald reiterated a Buy rating on the company, with a price target of $1,660. Another Strong Quarter...