What Volatility?

While it may seem like the market has been whipsawing like crazy every day lately, it's still nothing compared to what we saw in 2008, 2009, 2010 and even 2011.  Below is a chart showing the average daily +/- (absolute) percentage change of the S&P 500 over a 50-day rolling basis going back to 1990.  Over the last 50 trading days, the average daily move for the S&P 500 has been +/-0.76%.  In late 2008, this reading got above +/-4%!  And even in 2010 and 2011, we saw pretty significant spikes above +/-1%.  

Even Spain's stock market, which seems to be down 2% every time we look at the tape, has only averaged a daily move of +/-1.65% over the last 50 days.  This is still below its highs seen in 2008, 2010 and 2011 as well.