S&P 500 Snapshot: A Mere 0.55% From a Record Close

Asian and European equity markets were mixed today, but their major US cousins posted uniformly modest gains. The NASDAQ ended the session up 0.26%, the Dow 0.37% and the broader benchmark S&P 500 closed with a 0.33% gain. The 500 traded in a narrow but choppy range in the morning and a narrower afternoon range that included its 0.40% intraday high. That 0.33% closing gain was right at the level of yesterday's intraday high. The index is now a mere 0.55% from setting a new record close.

The 10-year note closed at 1.71%, down 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 index. Trading volume was muted.

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.