Courtesy of Doug Short.
Thank heavens the weekend is here! The S&P 500 fell another 1.50% today to close the week with a loss of 4.69%. Volatility remains high, with the VIX closing the day at 43.08, a fractional rise over yesterday. The index is in the red year-to-date at -10.66%, which (in addition to reminding me of the Norman Conquest) is 17.61% below the interim high set on April 29.
From an intermediate perspective, the index is 66.1% above the March 2009 closing low and 28.2% below the nominal all-time high of October 2007.
Below are two charts of the index, with and without the 50 and 200-day moving averages.
For a better sense of how these declines figure into a larger historical context, here’s a long-term view of secular bull and bear markets in the S&P Composite since 1871.
For a bit of international flavor, here’s a chart series that includes an overlay of the S&P 500, the Dow Crash of 1929 and Great Depression, and the so-called L-shaped “recovery” of the Nikkei 225. I update these weekly.
These charts are not intended as a forecast but rather as a way to study the current market in relation to historic market cycles.