Up and Down and Round and Round

From February 8th to April 23rd, the S&P 500 climbed 15.9%.  From April 23rd through yesterday, the index was down about 10% on a closing basis.  As shown in the candle chart below, the mountain has been a lot steeper on the way down than it was on the way up.  On the way up, the market basically inched a little bit higher each day in a very tight range, averaging a daily hi-lo spread of 0.99%.  On the way down, investors have been thrown off a cliff, with huge moves and an average daily hi-lo spread of 2.47%.  After making a steep ascent and then basically falling down, markets now sit right where they did in early February.  This is one case where slow and steady did not win the race.