The Quiet Market

The stock market is closing in on its quietest year in more than half a century. The S&P 500′s average daily up-or-down move so far this year is just 0.3 percent, about half of the average daily move in 2016. If it finishes the year this way, it would be the smallest absolute average daily move since 1964, and the second smallest on record.

There have been just eight 1 percent moves in 2017, which, if it stays that way, would be the fewest since 1965. There have been zero 2 percent up-or-down moves, which would be the first year since 2005 that’s happened. In the S&P 500's nine decades, it’s only had ten years without a 2 percent move.

That hasn’t stopped stocks from notching significant gains in 2017. The S&P 500's 19 percent rise so far this year is on pace for its biggest annual increase since 2013.