Five Days that Shook the Financial World: A Chart
MarketWatch.com released a visual representation and timeline of the wild economic and trading activity of the previous week in their image post entitled “Five Days that Shook the Financial World.”
The image compares the daily percentage change (in an informative line graph) for Gold, the Dow Jones, CBOE Volatility Index, Financial Stocks ETF, and the 3-month T-bill yield (which – on Thursday – fell to roughly 0%).
When you put all five of these variables together, the Dow Jones – which swung wildly up and down almost 5% on many of the days last week – looks like it didn’t change at all when it’s filtered in the percentage swings of the CBOE Volatility Index (gaining 60%) and the 3-month T-bill yield (which lost almost 100%).
Gold futures, as volatile as they were – also look relatively tame when compared to these. Gold futures (priced per ounce) had the greatest 1 day gain in over 20 years, followed immediately by the largest 1 day loss in over 20 years – that was a remarkable move).
The Dow Jones also experienced the greatest 2-day price jump in six years on extremely heightened volatility.
Take the weekend to read news reports, follow your favorite bloggers’ take on the situation and fall-out, and regain your composure for the week ahead. Enjoy the weekend!
IBD has a great charts of the market woes of the week in the Sunday Monday edition
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