10 Stocks to Sell in May and Go Away

Does Europe need more hedge funds? That was one of the more intriguing questions to come out of a one-day seminar on Europe's sovereign debt crisis I attended this week in Brussels. The event was co-sponsored by the IMF and Bruegel, the respected European think tank, and it was held under the Chatham House Rule, which means I can't tell you who said what. But I can give you a few headlines.

This post is extracted from Michael Pettis' newsletter sent out a few weeks ago, at a time when the mood in Europe was much better than now and when there was even a sense that the crisis was in the process of being resolved. We mention this to remind readers of how quickly sentiment can change.   Authored by Michael Pettis, originally posted at China Financial Markets,

Thursday’s midday sell-off plunged the Dow nearly a 1000 points, most severe one day drop ever in the history. However, Dow managed to rebound most of its loss and close down 347.Is Thursday’s slump really as severe of a crisis as the market turmoil of 2008 when all the major indexes lost 3 percent in a day, similar to today? Or is it merely emotions running hay wild?

Submitted by Simon Black of Sovereign Man blog, Five full years on from the financial crisis, stock markets have regained lost ground and are within striking distance of new record highs. Yet, it’s only NOW, after all the gains from the bottom have been made, that the investing crowd is starting to put money back into stocks.

FA Insights is a daily newsletter from Business Insider that delivers the top news and commentary for financial advisors. Shipping Titan Says The Only Debt To Worry About Is American Debt (Lori Ann LaRocco, CNBC)

By Hawkinvest:For the past two years, investors who followed the old adage "sell in May and go away" were ahead of the game when markets fell sharply after May 2010 and 2011. The sell in May principle is based on the fact that many traders and investors are on summer vacation at that time, and historically the market returns during the months that follow May are typically weak.

By Nicholas Pardini: The main mover for the markets in Europe (and the rest of the world) over the past month has been the recent developments in the European sovereign debt crisis. It has caused volatility to remain high and severe political overhaul throughout the Eurozone. With only the 32nd largest economy in the world, the prospect of Greece defaulting does not spell a death knell for Europe.