Cluster of Lopsided Breadth Days
By
Rennie on Thursday, September 8th, 2011 at 2:36 pm
Click chart to enlarge
The chart above, and the red line specifically, highlights the number of sessions over the last 50 trading days in which 400 or more SPX issues advanced or declined. The chart goes back to 2000. Note that this number recently topped 30, meaning more than half of the last 50 sessions have seen 400+ issues (or 4 out of 5 of the S&P500) advancing or declining in unison. This same type of situation occurred at the end of the 2002 bear market and again at the end of the 2008 bear market. In both cases the actual bottom coincided with this number falling back below 20. It would seem one prerequisite to a lasting bottom would be to see a reduction in volatility that would result in fewer sessions with such lopsided breadth.
Cluster of Lopsided Breadth Days
By Rennie on Thursday, September 8th, 2011 at 2:36 pmClick chart to enlarge
The chart above, and the red line specifically, highlights the number of sessions over the last 50 trading days in which 400 or more SPX issues advanced or declined. The chart goes back to 2000. Note that this number recently topped 30, meaning more than half of the last 50 sessions have seen 400+ issues (or 4 out of 5 of the S&P500) advancing or declining in unison. This same type of situation occurred at the end of the 2002 bear market and again at the end of the 2008 bear market. In both cases the actual bottom coincided with this number falling back below 20. It would seem one prerequisite to a lasting bottom would be to see a reduction in volatility that would result in fewer sessions with such lopsided breadth.