At the close, prices failed to move very much from Thursdays results. Yet the DJIA declined -for the second day in a row- minus -.09 percent, whereas the S&P500 and the NASDAQ edged up by .29 and .27 percent. The record reveals 64 previous sessions since 1950 with this pattern, 22 of which occurred since the 2000 market peak.
The diagram, indicating these closes with a triangle, shows their distribution over the last two price cycles. However these incidents seem to have almost no relationship with bear or bull phases of the market. For example, the proportion of these days, relative to total trading days, is .94 percent in the first decline and .95 percent during the following upswing. Similarly, the proportions seem near identical at .56 percent and .61 percent- in the second decline and recovery.
Indeed, evidence of any association appears time related, with the first set having near double the incidence of the later pair. Consequently these data and their analysis provide slight information about the direction of prices in the future.
The sequence of near stationary days, intertwined with occasional much larger gains and declines, however, deserves attention. Whether these episodes have associations with stable or changing price history deserves further analysis.
DJIA -.09 percent
NASDAQ .27 percent S&P500 .29 percent