US stock indexes nosedived yesterday, with the benchmark S&P 500 losing 1.13%. The index hit its intraday high, up 0.02%, five minutes into the session and then cascaded to a mid-day trading range, down about half a percent, that held until shortly before the final hour. It then continued the slide to its worst percentage loss since the 1.32% selloff on November 11th.
The popular financial press attributed yesterday's selling to the news of a budget deal in Congress, e.g., the CNBC spin: "the provisional budget deal in Washington raised speculation that the Federal Reserve could pull back on its stimulus program soon."
Lest yesterday's slump seem overly gloomy, note that the 1.32% decline on November 7th was followed by a 1.34% gain the following day.
Here is a 15-minute look at the past four sessions, which opens with Friday's big move on the November Jobs Report. The last two days have erased all the gains and dropped the index 0.16% below its close on the day before the Jobs Report.
Yesterday's selling came on 5% above-average volume. I've highlighted the November 7-8 hiccup. Will the market see yesterday's loss as a buying opportunity? Stay tuned!
The S&P 500 is now up 24.96% for 2013 and 1.45% below the all-time closing high of December 9.
For a better sense of how these declines figure into a larger historical context, here's a long-term view of secular bull and bear markets in the S&P Composite since 1871.