Stocks have rallied off of their mid-June lows, but it goes without saying that 2022 has still been a year marked by volatility and an absence of strength. In fact it has been historic (or nearly so) on both accounts. In terms of volatility, only two years (2008 and 2002) finished with a higher percentage of days on which the S&P 500 closed up or down by 1% or more than we have seen so far in 2022 (just shy of 50%). No year has come close to as low a percentage of days with more new highs than new lows. So far we have had seven in 2022: two in January, three in March and one each in April and May. That is just 5% of the trading days so far this year. The next closest year was 2008, which had new highs > new lows on just 13% of the days. At the opposite extreme is 2017, regarded by many as one of the best years in stock market history. That year, 90% of the days saw more stocks making new highs than new lows, only 3% of the days had the S&P 500 moving by more than 1%, and the S&P 500 booked a nearly 20% gain.
