“October. This is one of the peculiarly dangerous months to speculate in stocks. The others are July, January, September, April, November, May, March, June, December, August, and February.”

Mark Twain’s famous dictum on investing came to mind as we watched recent choppiness in public markets. With the waning weeks of summer passing and an uncertain fall ahead, elections, vaccines, and tech valuations are weighing on equities.

In contrast, private markets are just gearing up. As we’ve detailed in prior commentaries, middle market M&A activity has seen solid uplift in the last month or two. We suspect the same worries bedeviling liquid markets are supporting the trading of properties. As a seller, why not cash in your chips today, rather than risk a reduction in your after-tax proceeds tomorrow?