Forget the Fed (no rate hike worries) and Clinton versus Trump is on the back burner until the next debate. Wednesday's market started the session in muted indecision. Durable Goods were weak, but not unexpectedly so, and, after all, the US is a post-industrial nation decreasingly reliant on durable goods production.
But news of an OPEC deal triggered a quick-money rally. The S&P 500 bottomed at its -0.38% intraday low in the late morning, rose back to the flat line around 2 PM, as which point the oil news triggered a spurt higher. The index closed the session with a 0.53% gain, a bit off its 0.58% intraday high shortly before the final bell.
The OPEC news was an especially big deal for the energy sector. West Texas Intermediate Crude closed the session up a whopping 5.33%.
The yield on the 10-year note closed at 1.57%, up one basis point from the previous close.
Here is a snapshot of past five sessions in the S&P 500.
Here is daily chart of the index. Trading volume ticked up slightly, and the index is now vack above its 50-day price moving average.
A Perspective on Drawdowns
Here's a snapshot of selloffs since the 2009 trough.
Here is a more conventional log-scale chart with drawdowns highlighted.
Here is a linear scale version of the same chart with the 50- and 200-day moving averages.
A Perspective on Volatility
For a sense of the correlation between the closing price and intraday volatility, the chart below overlays the S&P 500 since 2007 with the intraday price range. We've also included a 20-day moving average to help identify trends in volatility.
