12-24-2016, 02:10 AM
Every year around this time, retail investors “return” their broken stocks for some of the money they put into them, in a maneuver known as tax-loss selling that lets them deduct realized stock losses against market gains. This annual tax-loss selling, which picks up between now and Dec. 30, may be particularly robust this year. That’s because with Nasdaq COMP, the S&P 500 SPX, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, up 9%, 10.7% and 14% this year through Monday, lots of people have substantial gains to offset. But there are also fewer tax-loss selling stocks to go around. Together, these factors could mean bigger bargains for those who like to take the other side of the trade and pick up stocks getting dumped to realize those tax losses.
11 tax-loss stocks to pick up before the end of the year - MarketWatch
And there is another reason why tax loss selling might be bigger this year, the expected tax rate reductions next year..