Courtesy of Doug Short. The S&P 500 closed the day with a fractional loss of 0.13% but remains above the 1,800 benchmark. Meanwhile, its elderly cousin the Dow set another all-time high with a tiny 0.05% gain, and the Nasdaq hit an intraday high above 4,000. However, this benchmark, last seen in the year 2000, didn’t hold to today’s closing. Tomorrow and Wednesday we get some significant economic news, but the only report today was the 10AM Pending Home Sales, which, despite coming in a bit below expectations, didn’t much phase the market. Today’s intraday range of 0.42% was only at the 7th percentile of the 228 market days in 2013.

Here is a 5-minute look at today’s narrow range with a bit of Friday at the front end for context.

The relative lack of volatility and low volume can perhaps be attributed to the lull of a holiday-shortened week.

The S&P 500 is now up 26.38% for 2013.

For a better sense of how these declines figure into a larger historical context, here’s a long-term view of secular bull and bear markets in the S&P Composite since 1871.

- Phil

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Philip R. Davis is a founder of Phil's Stock World (www.philstockworld.com), a stock and options trading site that teaches the art of options trading to newcomers and devises advanced strategies for expert traders. Mr. Davis is a serial entrepreneur, having founded software company Accu-Title, a real estate title insurance software solution, and is also the President of the Delphi Consulting Corp., an M&A consulting firm that helps large and small companies obtain funding and close deals. He was also the founder of Accu-Search, a property data corporation that was sold to DataTrace in 2004 and Personality Plus, a precursor to eHarmony.com. Phil was a former editor of a UMass/Amherst humor magazine and it shows in his writing -- which is filled with colorful commentary along with very specific ideas on stock option purchases (Phil rarely holds actual stocks). Visit: Phil's Stock World (www.philstockworld.com)

© 2013 Copyright PhilStockWorld - All Rights Reserved Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors.

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