The spring stock rally looked solid enough going into May, but analysts think it may be ripe for a pullback, giving new emphasis to the old saying about walking away from the market after the first four months of the year.
Both the Toronto S&P/TSX composite index and the Dow Jones industrial average are up around 25 per cent since the rally took hold March 10 and Andrew Pyle, an investment adviser with ScotiaMcLeod in Peterborough, said he didn’t think that pace would last. “I think if there was going to be ever any credence given to the whole topic of ‘sell in May and go away,’ this would be the year,” he said.
The rally has been kept afloat on corporate earnings reports that met or exceeded low expectations, and economic data that suggested the worst of the recession may be past.
“I do think the bottoming process is in place … But there are still a lot of outstanding issues.”
