The BREXIT vote surprised the markets last Friday and SPX plunged $76 or 3.6% from Thursday's close to Friday's close. But the markets didn't calm over the weekend. SPX gapped open lower on Monday to close down at $2001. But the last four days have been truly straight up! Today SPX closed at $2103, almost back where it closed on June 23rd before the BREXIT vote was in. We have seen a lot of price volatility in the markets over the past 2-3 years and the so-called V-bottom has become a familiar phenomenon. But I think this V-bottom set records - down nearly 4% in 2 days and essentially fully recovered in 4 days. We went from speculating about global recession to an aggressive bull market in record time.
The Chicago PMI jumped to 56.8 for June, up from 49.3 in May. The ISM manufacturing index increased again in June, up to 53.2 from May's 51.3. But construction spending remains weak, declining 0.8% in May; but that was an improvement over the 2.0% decline in April. Today's economic news was reasonably strong, but I don't think this huge turnaround is fully based on economic data. I think it has been a classic example of traders simply freaking themselves out. They panicked and sold, and just as quickly, decided it was overdone and bought back in with both hands. Volatility came in another point with VIX closing at 14.7%. This isn't the kind of price action that investors find comforting.
Many market participants left early for the long holiday weekend; trading volume was down 25% on the NYSE and down 19% on Nasdaq.
Another record turnaround came from Investors Business Daily this week. Their market assessment went from Confirmed Uptrend to Market in Correction and back to Confirmed Uptrend in just 3 days. That's a V-bottom.
Have a great Fourth of July Weekend. Fly the flag and eat a hot dog! We are fortunate to be Americans.