Mark Twain in January, May and October

As Mark Twain's Pudd'nhead Wilson said: "October. This is one of the peculiarly dangerous months to speculate in stocks. The others are July, January, September, April, November, May, March, June, December, August and February." It's pretty close to the mark - there ain't really much to say about a particular month, although that won't stop people from saying it. But 2013 has started with a bang. Stocks are up strongly, the best 'January effect' since 1997. Where else are you gonna go when global economic activity is re-accelerating and central bankers are keeping their feet on the gas? Suddenly, there's a convergence of views by global strategists that this is the year of rotation for equities. After a long period where cyclical stocks were under the cosh, now they appear to be emerging from the shadows. In contrast, high-flying consumer stocks had a bit of a wobble in the month as some pundits look ahead to a time when interest rates in rich countries actually may start to rise. No, surely not! Anyway, one is sceptical about such a January effect which originally claimed that stocks rose in January after falling in December as people sold their bad calls to generate tax losses. Locally, the claim is that investors returning from their summer holidays are all fired up with new ideas from tips heard on the beach. Whatever the truth, stocks have actually been rising since mid-November with just a brief downward blip in late-December. There's also supposed to be 'sell in May and go away' and everyone's always a bit nervous in October, when the crashes of 1929, 1987 and 2008 occurred.  Mark Twain was brought up in Hannibal, Missouri. The QSL is from KMOX, St Louis, MO, heard in Morgan Bay in 1987. St Louis is about 100 miles downriver from Hannibal. KMOX is one of the originals, first signing on in 1925.