May Recap: V-Shaped Month on Stocks and Huge Insider Buys

Sell in May?

They certainly did, but rather than go away as the old stock market adage suggests, traders returned to aggressively buy the dip, causing some of the wildest monthly swings in recent times.

There was plenty of selling in the first half of the month across asset classes, driven by doubt over the economic data，mixed corporate earnings，aggressive central banks, inflation and China's lock-down policies.

US stocks $S&P 500(.SPX)$ briefly dipped into bear market territory, down 20% from their recent peak, But markets subsequently started dialing back expectations of U.S. interest rate rises. Weekly Recap: The Market Tend to Start to More Strength?!

1. V-Shaped Month on Stocks
Cited from Ruters: The MSCI's global stocks benchmark had burnt nearly $5 trillion of value at its bottom on May 9 versus its peak during the month, plumbing its lowest in around 18 months.

From that point the index has rallied 8% as markets unwound the most aggressive Fed tightening bets. So the MSCI World index is set to end May with a small gain, returning to a market capitalisation north of $60 trillion.The stock segment arguably most vulnerable to interest rate swings - U.S. tech - meanwhile plunged 15% in the first 20 days of the month, before rebounding 12%.

The Nasdaq Composite index $NASDAQ(.IXIC)$ ended May down 2.1%. That’s a narrower decline than in April when the index fell 13%, but it remains in bear market territory, down 23% this year.

2. Record Buybacks and Insider Buys
In May, S&P 500 buybacks were the strongest since March 2020, according to VerityData. Separately, in May, for the broader small-cap index Russell 2000, share buybacks exceeded sales for the first time since March 2020.

Executives bought company stock at the fastest pace since the 2020 COVID-19 outbreak. Some Wall Street analysts said that was an encouraging sign for U.S. stocks.Analysts at JPMorgan Chase said on May 27 that while retail investors pulled out of the stock market and the threat of a U.S. economic slowdown or recession loomed, corporate insiders’ views on most industries were contrary to market consensus and were going crazy.” "Buying the bottom", its own stock that has been falling endlessly.

Analysts at the bank said the “record” corporate buybacks indicated that U.S. stocks were about to bottom out.

The Detailed TOP 10 Insider Buys Stock by cost are as follow: $Seven Hills Realty Trust.(SEVN)$ , $Tradeup Acquisition Corp(UPTD)$ , $Runway Growth Finance Corp.(RWAY)$ , $Occidental(OXY)$ , $Nielsen Holdings PLC(NLSN)$ , $Santander Consumer USA(SC)$ , $ServiceSource(SREV)$ , $Carvana Co.(CVNA)$ , $HP Inc(HPQ)$ , $Korab Resources Ltd(KOR.AU)$ .

Data source: gurufocus.com

Inside which, $(OXY)$ and $(HP)$ were all increased position by $Berkshire Hathaway(BRK.B)$, $Berkshire Hathaway(BRK.A)$ .

For more inside buy info, you can turn to gurufocus.com website if needed.

3. CRYPTO CRASHED
Regarding Crypto Market, rocked by the mid-May collapse of Terra USD, a stablecoin which lost its 1:1 dollar peg triggering big falls in all other crypto assets.By the time Terra USD collapsed, the total market cap of all cryptocurrencies had slipped as low as $1.14 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.

It stands now at $1.3 trillion, down around 25% this month and more than 56% below November's peak of almost $3 trillion.

Stock futures were higher early Wednesday morning as Wall Street turned the page to another month.