Today the Nikkei and Shanghai Composite both gained about 0.7%, the DAX surged 2.5%, but the major US indexes had a more modest session. The NASDAQ's 0.24% was enough for a record close, but the Dow and our preferred benchmark S&P 500 posted tiny gains of 0.02% and 0.04% respectively. The 500 started out in a promising fashion and set an intraday record high, up 0.31% about 90 minutes into the session. But the enthusiasm waned as the day progressed.
The demand for treasuries increased. The closing yield on the 10-year note fell four basis points to 1.55%.
Here is a snapshot of past five sessions in the S&P 500.
Despite the flirtation with record highs, trading volume is in the doldrums.
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.