Before the market opened, the big news was the March Advance Retail Sales, which showed modest recovery after three months of contraction, although a tad less than economists were expecting. The S&P 500 opened higher, ticked up for about ten minutes and then sold off to its -0.44% intraday low about 25 minutes later. It then recovered into the green in the late morning, peaked at 0.30% during the lunch hour and then traded sideways to its trimmed gain of 0.16%.
When the March Consumer Price Index is released on Friday, we'll take a closer look at Real Retail Sales. Meanwhile, here's a bit of wonkish indicator trivia that I shared earlier today with some of my economic correspondents. March Retail Sales gives us a preliminary look at the overall Q1 data. What would the Census Bureau's Retail Sales look like if we used the BEA's preferred way of calculating quarterly GDP -- the compounded annual rate of change? Q1 sales were down 5%.
But no worries. The Census Bureau will probably revise the "advance" data higher, and a hopefully a pleasant spring will have consumers whipping out their wallets.
Today the yield on the 10-year Note closed at 1.90%, down 4 bps from the previous close.
Here is a 15-minute chart of the past five sessions.
A Perspective on Drawdowns
Here's a snapshot of selloffs since the 2009 trough.
For a longer-term perspective, here is a charts base on daily closes since the all-time high prior to the Great Recession.
