S&P 500 Snapshot: Nearing A Record Close

Following Wednesday's -0.16% breather, the S&P 500 returned to rally mode, rising in a couple of waves to its 0.51% intraday high early in the noon hour. The index then traded in a narrow range to its 0.47% closing gain, a mere 0.14% below its August 15th record close.

Here is a snapshot of the past five sessions.

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Here's a daily chart of the SPY ETF, which gives a better sense of investor participation. The nine-day rally (which included two pauses) has seen a decline in trading volume. Thanks to dividends, the ETF did set a record close today. 

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A Perspective on Drawdowns

Here's a snapshot of sell-offs since the 2009 trough.

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Here is a more conventional log-scale chart with drawdowns highlighted. 

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Here is a linear scale version of the same chart with the 50- and 200-day moving averages. 

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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.

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