The Brussels terrorist attack had surprisingly little impact on equity markets. The Euro STOXX 50 traded in a relatively narrow range and closed with a fractional 0.08% gain. The S&P 500 opened in the shallow red and sold off to its -0.54% intraday low about 20 minutes later. The index then traded higher in a couple of waves to a narrow range for about two hours starting near the end of the lunch hour, at which point afternoon selling dropped the index to its fractional -0.09% closing loss, snapping a five-day rally that had produced a relatively 1.77% gain.
The yield on the 10-year note closed at 1.94%, up two basis points from the previous close.
Here is a snapshot of past five sessions in the S&P 500.
Here is a daily chart of the index. Volume was 35% below its 50-day moving average.
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.
