For the fourth successive day, prices changed in the opposite direction from the day before. We have considered the connection between these roller-coaster sequences and the trend of prices. So far, no significant relationship is apparent. The history does show they have increased, and occur more frequently in the period since 2000 than before.
Today’s pattern of -1/+1/-1/+1 has occurred 53 times before, but only 34 of these happened since January 2000. Should today’s closes reveal another reversal in direction, it would be the 22nd sequence of five successive changes in a row. Most of these, 19 in fact, crossed the tape since 2000.
For the record, considering the frequency of six day chains, their total comes to 9 and 8 of these belong to the later, post 2000 period.
DJIA - .21 percent
NASDAQ – .13 percent
S&P500 - .26 percent