Our benchmark S&P 500 rose at the open, giving hope that the downtrend since the Monday advance would reverse directions. But such was not to be. The index quickly sold off to its morning low, rallied into the lunch hour, took a pause, and then sold off during the afternoon to its -0.32% intraday low shortly before the close. It ended the session with a 0.30% decline and its consecutive loss, the fifth in six sessions.

The closing yield on the 10-year note jumped six basis points from its previous close to 1.85% ... quite a change rise from its historic closing low of 1.37% in early July.

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

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Here's a daily chart of the index. Of late we see that volume has been high on the finishes in the red. 

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A Perspective on Drawdowns

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

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

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

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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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