S&P 500 Snapshot: A Modest Bounce

Today was a mixed day for global equities. In Asia the Nikkei and Hang Seng tanked (-1.88% and -1.76%) on disappointed expectations for fiscal stimulus in Japan. In Europe the Euro STOXX 50 ticked up a fractional 0.14%. US equity indexes fared a bit better. The Dow snapped a seven-day losing streak with a modest 0.23% advance. Our favorite US equity benchmark, the S&P 500 hit a lunch-hour high, sold off to bounce off yesterday's closing price in the mid-afternoon and then closed at its intraday high with 0.31% gain.

The yield on the 10-year note was unchanged at 1.55%.

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

Here is a daily chart of the SPY ETF, which gives a better sense of investor particpation (or lack thereof) in today's trade. A preliminary tally volume is the lowest so far in 2016.

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.