DOW drops 680 points in two days: -300 on Tuesday, -380 today

[ffr]

Here’s why stock market investors need to get used to rising volatility


The stock market can continue to rise, but the ultralow volatility backdrop that accompanied the relentless 2017 rally is gone and investors will need to adjust, said a pair of quantitative analysts at Société Générale.

While the U.S. macroeconomic picture has seen only a whiff of higher U.S. inflation and wages, “it should no longer provide a security blanket for risk takers,” wrote Jitesh Kumar and Vincent Cassot in a wide-ranging Wednesday note that cited a variety of factors that have effectively set the stage for a return to more normal levels of volatility. - Marketwatch

[Me.]

1. Hardly Anyone Paying Attention

with all that's going on...but we should be.

[Wellstone ruled]

2. We are in a pattern of three losing days out five.

Looks like a Daytrader Market only with the Algorithm's running the show. Big buys at the open only to dump at the close. Big Dumps at the open and cover positions at the close.

[uponit7771]

4. +1

[ooky]

10. Exactly.

Like everything else in this country, it is manipulated and controlled by a few wealthy people through algorithmic trading.

Corruption has taken over everything.

[Liberal In Texas]

3. Is the sugar high of the tax cuts wearing off? n/t

[uponit7771]

5. Yes, and the stability of bonds coming in to take the gains away.

[Wellstone ruled]

6. They were baked into this

scenario last fall. Looked at the Margin Numbers last week,damn near 700 billion. That is one scary amount. This is more than the Housing Mortgage Bond Bust Margins.

[gratuitous]

7. First net loss month for the market since . . .

Well, we can't really say when. Might upset the stable genius stellar businessman squatting in the White House, and the popular media go to extraordinary lengths to avoid doing that.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

8. Keep in mind that the market had been rising

steadily since Obama took office, without a real correction. One is long overdue.

That said, I'm not about to panic and start selling my investments. I'm still in for the long term.

[progree]

9. S&P 500 now 5.6% below its all-time peak of January 26

January 26 close: 2873
Today's close: 2713
Down 160 , -5.6%

I've decided to wait until its down 30% before I buy equity funds with what little I have in cash and bonds. Known as buying equities when they are on sale.

Also a good time to swap between equities in my taxable accounts - when cap gains are low or negative. I did that with a lot of stuff during the near-market bottom in 2008-09 - did a lot of house-cleaning and consolidation.