Chart of the Day - Monday, February 13th, 2023

Today’s Chart of the Day was shared by Wayne Whaley (@WayneWhaley1136). The table shows the S&P 500's performance over the past fifty years when it's been above or below nine different moving averages (5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 150, 200, 250, and 300-day.) The 200-day moving average gets all of the attention, but there's nothing particularly special about 200 days. It's a nice round number, and we all look at it, but it's arbitrary. Wayne points out that the 250-day moving average has actually been a better indicator for the S&P 500 than the 200-day. The Third column shows that returns have been slightly better (10.09% vs. 10.84%) and drawdowns have been less severe (25.01% vs. 21.65%). Either way, the bulls can sleep easier knowing the S&P 500 is currently above all nine moving averages on this table.