July 31, 2012 Second Decline
Prices dropped further, resulting in a pattern of two straight declines. There have been 406 such days since 1950, with 163 so far in this century.
Our diagram plots the S&P500 closes on the following day. These are almost evenly distributed between advances -52.8 percent- and declines 46.6 percent.
Further, these show a wide dispersion by size, with the DJIA range from -4.7 percent to +6.8 percent; the NASDAQ going from -5.2 percent to +14.2 percent and the S&P500 falling from -5.2 percent to + 7.1 percent.
There is not much stability in these numbers, and as a result, the outlook remains clouded.
DJIA -.49 percent
NASDAQ -.21 percent
S&P500 -.43 percent