July 21, 2008
While the averages fell on Monday, they hardly budged from their Friday closes, as the S&P500 dipped -.05 percent, the NASDAQ -.14 percent whereas the DJIA, the days biggest loser, was off just -.25 percent.
Whilst no other such day can be found, going back to 1950, there have been 13 other days when these indices fell but their losses were limited within yesterdays range. And in the present decade, these occasions were no more frequent than four times.
The latest of these, before yesterday, occurred on August 8 of last year. The current sliding market, of course, gathered speed shortly thereafter. One other incident, with unequivocal negative consequences, goes back to November 2000.
As for the day following this pattern, the S&P500 and the DJIA dropped eleven times and moved higher only twice; although the NASDAQ closed up five times while limiting the following day to the negative column on only eight occasions.
DJIA -.25 percent
NASDAQ -.14 percent
S&P500 -.05 percent