S&P 500 Snapshot: A Sharp Decline and Partial Recovery

US equity futures were tanking before the market opened, and our benchmark S&P 500 plunged at the opening bell, hitting its -1.14% intraday low about 30 minutes into the session. The index then struggled steadily high to its -0.05% intraday high at the start of the closing hour. But that final hour saw some renewed selling, and the 500 closed with a 0.31% loss. The pundits at CNBC attributed the reversal to a similar selloff and rise in oil prices.

The yield on the 10-year note closed at 1.75%, down four BPs from yesterday's close.

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

 

Here's a daily chart of the index. Trading volume was a bit above its 50-day moving average on today's mini-drama.

 

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.