Seasonal Selling or A Top In the Stock Market

If you follow most of the commentary right now about the stock market you will see that a common theme is whether you should "SELL IN MAY".  This is a common seasonal trend in the stock market when trading in stocks becomes thin as more traders head off for vacation.  I guess this is somewhat true as I have to head to London here shortly, but its not exactly for vacation. But soon after that I'll find myself in Las Vegas for a little R&R, so I guess this trader will be off eventually for a few days.  There are a few people that are speaking a little louder and signaling that it may be more than seasonal.  I tend to listen to these voices if I find some of the points that they are highlighting credible.  I also tend to tune into these point of views more as friends and family begin to want to talk "shop" with me.  If my friends are asking me about the stock market and telling me how well its been moving and that they have to get back in because they've missed the move up, I start to think.."Uh-Oh the trend may be the markets will start moving down".  When the average Joe is jumping in its usually to late, the smart money has already pounced.  So I am a pretty average guy, so how does this effect me!  Well when I start to get scared about the markets, I try to do the opposite of my impulse and buy.  When things are getting really rosy, I try to sell even though I don't want to.  When I started getting more people talking shop, I sold a few positions, but to be fair, I added a few more of my PREMIUM ALERT picks. The one caveat is I am adding picks that might survive a tough downturn.

Here is a snippet from a BLOOMBERG article of an investor who's painting a picture that's less rosy. Attached is the link to the full article: 

John Burbank, founder of $3.8 billion hedge fund Passport Capital LLC, said he expects a U.S. economic recession this year or in early 2013, according to a letter to investors.

Passport is “very bearish” and anticipates “a major retrenchment in risk assets,” Burbank said in the March 27 letter, a copy of which was obtained by Bloomberg News. The San Francisco-based firm increased its short positions, or bets that security prices will fall, added to gold holdings and bought Brent oil starting in the second half of last year, he said.

“We see a recession in 2012 or early 2013 for the U.S. which will be difficult to avoid as Europe contracts and China moderates to 7 percent to 8 percent targeted growth,” Burbank said in the letter. “The equity market is confused about true economic growth in the developed world -- we believe it will be much lower than forecast.”

Link: Burbank Expects Recession

I find it interesting that every time this year we hit 13,400 on the Dow Jones it seems like we meet some resistance and head back down.  I don't think we are headed for an all out recession but I do think there are some levels being set where its prudent to begin to protect yourself or sell your big winners.