The ‘sell in May and go away’ does not work in bull markets, said Mark Matthews of Bank Julius Baer & Co, on Wednesday.

“We are in a bull market now and we found that famous expression ‘sell in May and go away’ doesn’t work in bull markets because on average the May to October period in the bull market over the last 100 years has produced returns of about 5 percent. So we remain invested but I would hesitate to see a lot more upside beyond 5 percent over the next 6 months,” Matthews told CNBC-TV18.

On US markets, Matthews said, “We do not know what time horizon she (Janet Yellen) was talking about. I do not know if anybody should be that shocked to think that interest rates should go up over the long term. I would say that she was not referring to this year or next year. It’s just a broad statement that the government is doing a lot of fiscal stimulus and eventually that might cause some more heating so they might have to raise interest rates.”

US treasury secretary Janet Yellen conceded during an economic seminar presented by "The Atlantic” that interest rates may have to rise as the economy recovers fuelled by the government's stimulus spending.

“To me what was interesting was the reaction in the stock market because I do think we will get a discussion on tapering which is also a form of tightening in a few months’ time,” said Matthews.

Watch the video for the full interview

(Edited by : Ajay Vaishnav)