For global equity markets, August began with a whimper, not a bang. Asian indexes were mixed, the major European indexes finished in the red, with the Euro STOXX 50 down 0.78%. Our benchmark S&P 500 vacillated at the open, hit its 0.22% intraday high in the morning, its -0.34% low during the lunch hour and then chugged sideways to its -0.13% close. Apparently oil was a drag on today's action, with end-of-day West Texas Crude plunging 3.70% to its lowest close since April 8th.

The yield on the 10-year rose five basis points to close at 1.51%.

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

Here is a daily chart of the index. We've highlighted the unusually narrow pattern over the past thirteen sessions, both in closes and intraday trading ranges. We've repeatedly asked the question: Will the next significant move be up? or down? Stay tuned!

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.