Sell in May, Go Away? No Way

Updated from 4:31 p.m. EDT

Stocks in New York rallied in the final minutes of May trading perhaps due to some end-of-month window-dressing, after crude oil settled above $66 a barrel, the dollar continued to weaken and investors prepared to say goodbye to old General Motors(HP Quote).

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 96.53 points, or 1.2%, to 8500.33, while the S&P 500 was 12.31 points, or 1.4% higher, at 919.14. The Nasdaq was better by 22.54, or 1.3%, at 1774.33.

The late-day rally was partly fund managers readjusting portfolios for the end of the month, says Anu Sharma, managing director of the Market Intelligence Desk at Nasdaq OMX. Some of the movement also could have also been due to index managers, as today was the MSCI semiannual rebalance, and today's market caps will be used for the Russell rebalance the last day of June, he says.

For the week, the Dow was up 2.7%, the S&P 500 up 3.6%, and the Nasdaq higher by 4.9%. The expression "sell in May and go away" did not hold: The Dow was up 4.1%, the S&P 500 was higher by 5.3%, and the Nasdaq added 3.3% for the month.

Coca-Cola was the strongest performer on the Dow for the day, rising 4.8%. Merck(MRK Quote) and Pfizer(PFE Quote) also rose 3% and 3.4%, respectively.

GM was the biggest loser, trading down 33%. GM shares fell 37 cents to 75 cents, a record low dating back to the 1930s. The UAW ratified a new deal with the struggling U.S. automaker on Friday. A day earlier, GM made a tentative deal with unsecured bondholders, who would get 10% of the company. It would allow GM to proceed with a bankruptcy filing.