April 7, 2011 Prices Continue Rotating Between Ups and Downs
The three indices fell today, offsetting yesterdays gains; it was the fourth change of direction in as many days. Such daily reversals are far from rare, occurring on 443 days over the last 11 years. That amounts to 16 percent of all trading days, or once every six days.
Todays pattern, however, differs slightly from these up-then-down sequences in that the NASDAQ has a -1/+2 history, while the DJIA and the S&P500 share a -1/+1 record. Only 13 previous sessions since 1999 share this combination.
As for the following day, the past shows an almost equal number of advances and declines. Therefore, as with yesterday s projection, the record fails to provide a basis for inferring the closing positions of tomorrows market.
DJIA - .54 percent
NASDAQ - .13 percent
S&P500 - .15 percent