One of Wall Street’s oldest adages — “sell in May and go away” — has tempted stock-market investors into dumping equities this month and returning to the market in November. The opposite of this seasonal pattern exists in the U.S. government-debt market.
The number of Americans who applied for unemployment benefits in the week before the Thanksgiving holiday dipped to a seven-month low in a sign of strength for a steadily expanding U.S. economy.