The S&P 500 went nowhere today, ending the day with a flat finish but posting a modest 0.52% gain for the week. The index struggled at the open and quickly sold off to its -0.49% intraday low about 75 minutes into the session. It then traded sideways through the lunch hour and then rallied to its 0.14% afternoon high. The index finished the session hovering around the level of yesterday's close, ending with a 0.1 point gain, which calculates to 0.00% to two decimals. However the 500 is up 2.33% year-to-date.

The yield on the 10-year note closed at 1.89%, up one basis point from the previous close but up 13 basis points from last Friday's close.

Here is a snapshot of past five sessions in the S&P 500.

Here is a weekly chart of the index, which has posted gains for eight of the past ten weeks. This week's volume was spot on its 10-week 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.