S&P 500: Market Stalls Ahead of Tomorrow's Jobs Report

Major markets around the globe saw little price movement today. Our benchmark S&P 500 rallied at the open, despite the biggest jump in new unemployment claims since January of 2015. The index hit its modest 0.44% intraday high about 45 minutes into the session. It then sold off to its -0.26% early afternoon low. The index then struggled to its -0.02% close. The 500 essentially went nowhere in advance of tomorrow employment report for April.

The yield on the 10-year note closed at 1.76%, down three basis points from the previous.

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

Here is a daily chart of the index. Volume in today's decline was unremarkable.

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.