Finally after eight straight advances the S&P500 declined; the DJIA also declined, after six gains in a row; but the NASDAQ moved higher for the second time. These changes however were quite modest. Indeed, only six other closes this small happened in this century, and is it coincidence that three were in the month of January?
Our diagram reveals most of these days were during the two boom phases, of 2003/2007 and since the last low of March 2009. That is comforting since this batching allows the conjecture that the current upswing will continue.
Yet the projection for tomorrow is not as comforting, because during these upswings in the past, prices on the following day declined almost as frequently as they increased. However, most of these losses remained well below a full percent. On the other hand, prices increases of more than two percent were quite common when the market was in a bear mode.
DJIA -.10 percent
NASDAQ .15 percent
S&P500 -.18 percent
