IT’S understandable if the month of May fills investors with trepidation.

After all, almost a year ago, equities entered a near-bear market that pushed stocks lower by more than 19 percent. That came after a very promising start to the year, a pattern that also occurred in 2010. And this year through April, the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index returned nearly 12 percent.

Will economic worries in May dash early signs of optimism once again this year?

Michael J. Cuggino, president of the Permanent Portfolio Family of Funds, sees some disturbing parallels. This winter, he said, “you had the feeling that, ‘Boy, we’re finally out of the woods.’ Then all of a sudden you start seeing softer economic signs.”

Those include yet another round of worries coming out of Europe — including Spain’s fiscal crisis and news that Britain has slipped back into recession — along with high oil prices and a still-weak labor market at home. In April, there was a net gain of only 115,000 jobs, much less than had been forecast.

Yet many strategists say enough has changed that another severe pullback isn’t a fait accompli. “From a fundamental perspective, there are quite a number of differences,” said Brad Sorensen, director of market and sector analysis at the Schwab Center for Financial Research.