The S&P 500 stumbled at the opening bell and spent most of the day oscillating around the -0.5% level. A weak rally in the final hour got the index up to a 0.39% loss at the close, which gives us a 0.75% loss for the month of April. The index is back below the 1,400 level. For the glass-half-full readers, the index closed the month up 11.16% year-to-date, which is only 1.49% off its interim closing high set on April 2nd, the first business day of the month.
From an intermediate perspective, the S&P 500 is 106.6% above the March 2009 closing low and 10.7% below the nominal all-time high of October 2007.
Below are two charts of the index, with and without the 50 and 200-day moving averages.
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.
These charts are not intended as a forecast but rather as a way to study the current market in relation to historic market cycles.