Major markets around the globe sold off today with the pundits pointing to tonight's US presidential debate as the main source of market anxiety. Our benchmark S&P 500 plunged at the open and, after a puny bounce, sold off to a narrow mid-afternoon trading range. The index closed with a 0.86% loss, a tad above its 0.91% intraday low moments before the close. Today's loss essentially erased the no-rate-hike rally that began last Wednesday with the release of the September FOMC statement.

The yield on the 10-year note closed at 1.59%, down three basis points from the previous close.

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

Here is daily chart of the index. Volume on today's selling was unremarkable.

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.