The S&P 500 sank at the open yesterday, traded sideways to the noon hour and then sold off in a couple of waves to its -1.25% intraday low early in the final hour. Some buying in the final 30 minutes lifted the final loss to -0.94%, which erased virtually all of Monday's 0.98% rally.
Yesterday's economic news was a mixed bag: Fewer than expected building permits, moderate CPI, a beat on housing starts and a welcome rise in Industrial Production, which has been in recessionary doldrums. Yesterday's selloff comes in advance of today's release of the minutes for the April 26-27 FOMC meeting.
The index is now up only 0.16% year-to-date. As for the old "sell in May" adage, after twelve sessions, the index is down 0.9% for the month.
The yield on the 10-Year note closed at 1.76%, up only one basis point from the previous close.
Here is a snapshot of past five sessions in the S&P 500:
Here is a daily chart of the S&P 500. At yesterday's close, the index had fallen back below its 50-day moving average. Trading volume ticked up a bit on yesterday's selling.
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.
