S&P 500 Snapshot: Another Lackluster Session

Today the Nikkei and Shanghai both gained about 0.7%, the DAX surged 2.5%, but the major US indexes had a more modest session. The NASDAQ's 0.24% was enough for a record close, but the Dow and our preferred benchmark S&P 500 posted tiny gains of 0.02% and 0.04% respectively. The 500 started out in a promising fashion and set an intraday record high, up 0.31% about 90 minutes into the session. But the enthusiasm waned as the day progressed.

The demand for treasuries increased. The closing yield on the 10-year note fell four basis points to 1.55%.

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

Despite the flirtation with record highs, trading volume is in the doldrums.

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.