US equities had been in stall mode this week while awaiting this afternoon's Fed decision on a rate hike. The S&P 500 opened higher sold off to the flat line during the lunch hour and then initiated the Fed trade a couple of minutes before the 2 PM release of the FOMC statement. A divided Fed opted for no September rate hike, which triggered a relief rally that sent the index to its 1.18% intraday high about 15 minutes before the close. The relief rally was somewhat muted by an unusual tally of three dissenting Fed votes. The index ended the session with a trimmed advance of 1.09%.

The yield on the 10-year note closed at 1.66%, down three basis points from the previous session.

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

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Here is daily chart of the index. Volume ticked up modestly on today's Fed drama. The index remains slightly below its 50-day moving average, which it has trailed for nine sessions. 

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A Perspective on Drawdowns

Here's a snapshot of selloffs 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.