The global rally in equity markets picked up steam today. The major Asian and European indexes posted gains around one percent and slightly high … with the exception of the FTSE and Shanghai. Our benchmark S&P 500 opened in the green and rose to its 0.77% intraday high about 45 minutes into the session. It then slowly gave up about half its gain by its afternoon low around the end of the lunch hour. But the trend then reversed, and the index closed the session with a 0.53% advance. The S&P 500 has posted gains for 10 on the last 12 sessions, the last four being record highs.

The yield on the 10-year note rose five basis points to close at 1.53%.

Here is a snapshot of past five sessions in the S&P 500.

Here is a daily chart of the S&P 500. The preliminary read on rading volume was 9% below its 50-day moving average.

A Perspective on Drawdowns

Here’s a snapshot of selloffs since the 2009 trough.

Here is a more conventional log-scale chart with drawdowns highlighted.

Here is a linear scale version of the same chart with the 50- and 200-day moving averages.

A Perspective on Volatility

For a sense of the correlation between the closing price and intraday volatility, the chart below overlays the S&P 500 since 2007 with the intraday price range. We’ve also included a 20-day moving average to help identify trends in volatility.

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