The economic news today was not good. The Fed’s Industrial Production index for April posted its fifth consecutive monthly decline. Michigan Consumer Sentiment took a dive, its biggest plunge since December 2012. The market was not particularly troubled. The S&P 500 opened higher, vacillated a bit and hit its -0.20% intraday low with the bad consumer sentiment number. It then traded in its second narrowest intraday price range of 2015. A bit of buying in the final minutes lifted the index to a 0.08% gain and its second consecutive record close.
The official yield on the 10-year note closed at 2.14%, down nine bps from yesterday but a down a mere 2 bps from last week’s close.
Here is a 15-minute chart of the past five sessions.
Today was an options expiration day, which skews volume on the index. So let’s take a look at the SPY ETF for a better sense of investor participation (or lack thereof).
A Perspective on Drawdowns
Here’s a snapshot of selloffs since the 2009 trough.
For a longer-term perspective, here is a charts base on daily closes since the all-time high prior to the Great Recession.
