December 18, 2008
The market fell today, for the second day in a row. The losses range from the smallest, the NASDAQs -1.71 percent, the -2.12 percent for the S&P500, to the deepest, -2.49 percent for the DJIA. Yet these declines are not nearly as deep as many others over the course of the past 20 days.
That period saw an even number ten each of down and up days. Yet the NASDAQ posted seven losses worse than todays; the S&P500 had six worse losses and the DJIA five.
This 20-day period is significant, since it reaches to, and includes, the last time these indices fell two days in a row. That is one comparison.
Yet what happened to the market on November 19 and 20 provides the more important insight. Prices turned around then, reaching their lowest so far in this cycle, and started heading up. Since prices do not move continuously without reversals, neither when rising nor when falling, the loss pattern of the past two days might signal a return of the recovery, started on November 19 and 20.
DJIA -2.49 percent
NASDAQ -1.71 percent
S&P500 -2.12 percent