Well, of course it's not that easy, but there are patterns that seem to repeat with high frequency. My favourite is Santa trading, which I've been doing for 15 years - so far with only one failure (2007-2008). This year looks promising in US small caps. The Russell is down this year after a big up year in 2013, so people who sell this year are sitting on sizeable taxable gains and will be looking to sell their losers. For that reason I'd avoid small caps until mid-December, then look to buy the most beaten up ones. Then sell in January and reassess the market landscape.