As we said yesterday, this has been overall a very quiet year for the S&P 500. At this point, it’s up 0.6 percent on the year, which would be the smallest move for the index in either direction since 1970. But that doesn’t mean it has been a quiet year. By the end of April, the S&P had risen 8.4 percent and almost reached a three-year high. But between then and October 3, the index fell by 19 percent, before rebounding to close the year.
August, normally a sleepy time of the year for the markets, was the most volatile month we saw. During that month, the daily change in the S&P 500 averaged 2.2 percent, the highest it’s been for any August since 1932. During one four-day stretch in August, the Dow Jones average alternated gains and losses of 400 points, for the first time ever.
The year also brought big swings to the individual companies on the S&P 500. Eighty-five of its listed stocks fell by 20 percent or more, compared with just 11 in 2010 and 15 in 2009.
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