If you are invested at all in the stock market, either directly in stocks, or in mutual funds, or via a 401(k) or a pension; and if you have paid any attention to the ups and downs of the stock market in the last couple months; then this may be of interest.
Stock market volatility is the extent to which prices go up or down from day to day. Using the S&P 500 as a market index, and using a 4% price change in a single day as a big move, just how volatile is the recent market activity?
Over the past 60 years there have only been 68 days in which the market has moved up or down by 4% or more, A 60-year average of slightly more than once per year. However.....
Of those 68 days, 28 days have ocurred since September, 2008. In other words, until just recently we averaged about 7 of those days per decade; far less than once a year. But in the last couple months we've been getting bumped up or down at a rate of about once every 2-3 days.
That's why it seems like the markets are so shakey. They are.
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