Eurozone markets continued to celebrate the Draghi QE bazooka on Friday, with the Euro STOXX index 50 gaining 1.8%. But enthusiasm waned in the US. The S&P 500 spent the day in its narrowest trading range so far this year. It opened at its intraday high, 0.01% below Thursday's close and sold off to its -0.50% morning low about 75 minutes later. A sustained afternoon effort to enter the green failed, and the index sold off during the last two hours of trading to its -0.55% close, snapping a four-day rally. The S&P 500 is now back in the red YTD at -0.34%.
The general aura of caution was reflected in the yield on the U.S. 10-Year Note, which closed at 1.81%, down nine bps from Thursday's close.
Here is a 15-minute chart of the week.
Here is a daily chart of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (ARCA:SPY), which gives a better sense of investor participation, which was definitely muted.
A Perspective on Drawdowns
Here's a snapshot of sell-offs since the 2009 trough. The S&P 500 is 1.58% off its record close on December 29th.
For a longer-term perspective, here is a pair of charts based on daily closes starting with the all-time high prior to the Great Recession.
