January 26, 2009
Todays market results were the most stable since January 16, the last time all three indices moved in the same direction for two straight sessions. Before this close, these averages changed direction four times in the last five trading days.
This pattern of closes does not surface very often. Only 51 such series exist since 1950, with 15 of these occurring since 2000. Moreover, these often arise when the market is shifting direction, but not necessarily heading down.
A further sign of steadiness is the decline in the size of the daily changes. The NASDAQs last two closes were less than one percent, while the S&P500s were limited to .6 percent. Previously, they ranged from -5.78 percent to +4.60 percent.
In the 19 trading days since December 29, only two closes were smaller than one percent. The average daily change over this time was 2.24 percent. (This is the result of adding all changes regardless of sign.)
DJIA .48 percent
NASDAQ .82 percent
S&P500 .56 percent