To The Moon

Restaurant Brands International's (NYSE:QSR) Burger King is bringing back its $5 value meal, signaling an escalation in the burger wars. The return of value meals highlights the pressure U.S. fast foo

The numbers: The number of Americans who applied for unemployment benefits last week fell again to 215,000, indicating once again that layoffs are low and that the economy is being buoyed by a strong labor market.Initial jobless claims have hovered between 194,000 and 232,000 this year, a remarkably low level last achieved consistently in the 1960s.Economists polled by the Wall Street Journal had forecast new claims to total 220,000 in the seven days ending May 18, based on seasonally adjusted figures.Big picture: The low level of layoffs reflects a tight labor market in which good help is hard to find.Most businesses are wary of cutting jobs given the steady expansion in the U.S. economy and the potential for growth-stimulating reductions in interest rates later this year by the Federal Reserve.The strong labor market has been a key bulwark against the threat of recession.Market reaction: The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA and S&P 500 SPX were set to open higher on Thursday after

One market pro following the company expects more downside following a post-earnings sell-off.

One market pro following the company expects more downside following a post-earnings sell-off.

One of the oldest adages on Wall Street -- "sell in May and go away" -- has held that it is in investors' best interest to sell their stocks at the beginning of May and return to the market at the start of November.Actually, yes, but not as much as it once did.To study the accuracy of this axiom, also known as the Halloween indicator because it suggests buying stocks right after Oct. 31, my research assistants and I pulled all data on various stock classes going back to the 1950s. These groupings were U.S. growth stocks, U.S. value stocks, large- and small-cap U.S. stocks, and international stocks.With these groupings, we then looked at two periods: before 2000 and after 2000 through 2023. And within each of these date ranges, we looked at average returns and volatility for the period from May to October versus the rest of the year .In all, it appears that there is still some truth to "sell in May and go away" in the 21 century as you can indeed score higher returns by s