Chart of the Day - Thursday, March 12th, 2020

Today’s Chart of the Day was shared on Twitter by Arun Chopra (@FusionptCapital). It’s a chart of the S&P 500 going back to 1980. Today was the worst day for the index since the Black Monday Crash of 1987. The most remarkable thing about this sell-off has been the speed at which it happened.  In just 16 trading days the S&P fell 27% from an all-time high, marking one of the fastest transitions into bear market territory in the history of the index. Arun uses a 9-week rate of change indicator to highlight the fact that we’re witnessing a truly historic move. It’s unclear at this point how far the index will fall before buyers step in, and only time will tell whether that will be the bottom or just a bottom within a longer-term downtrend. However, this is undoubtedly a risk-off environment where records are being shattered left and right.