February 23, 2012 Largest Gain in a Week
The NASDAQ closed higher, scoring the first positive close after three straight losses. It, as well as the DJIA and the S&P500, posted the largest advance since last Thursday, when each index gained more than one percent. Todays advance by each index after yesterdays losses is a familiar pattern, occurring some 509 other times in this century. However, this count falls to just seven other days when the NASDAQ suffered three successive declines, as it did this week.
With these closes distributed almost equally over each of the two bear and the two bull markets since 2000, they do not provide insights into the direction of prices in the future.
Moreover, since three of the following days show losses, while the other four managed, projections for tomorrow are impossible.
DJIA .36 percent
NASDAQ .81 percent
S&P500 .43 percent