Chart of the Day - Friday, January 17th, 2020

Today’s Chart of the Day was shared on Twitter by Steve Place (@stevenplace). It's a chart of the S&P 500 ETF, $SPY, over the past four years. The indicator at the bottom of the chart shows the number of consecutive days where $SPY traded above its 50-day moving average. The market has been grinding higher over the past few months with very little downward volatility. This steady melt-up has caused some concern that the market is overextended, and that a pullback is imminent. $SPY has traded above its 50-day moving average for 67 straight trading days. While this is impressive, there have been several other streaks within recent years that have lasted longer. As Steve notes, there were two separate steaks in 2017 where $SPY traded above its 50-day moving average for more than 100 straight days. Also, the first four months of last year saw a streak of more than 75 days. Perhaps the current rally could last longer than some think.