Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Volatility Falls Most Since 1930s as Stock Funds Gain




Price swings in U.S. stocks are narrowing the most since the Great Depression, a signal of reviving investor confidence that’s fueling the bull market poised to enter its fifth year.
Average daily price moves for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index have fallen to 0.43 percent in 2013 from an average 1.08 percent the past five years, the steepest decline for any corresponding period since the 1930s, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The last time the annual average was this low was 1995, when the S&P 500 surged 34 percent and doubled in the next four years. Stocks gain an average 17 percent during years when the gyrations are so small, the data going back to 1928 show.

The combination of declining volatility and the best start to a year since 1997 is prompting bears to warn that investors are growing complacent as the rally ages. Bulls cite smaller fluctuations as another reason to buy, on top of rising earnings forecasts, below-average valuations and the biggest deposits in equity mutual funds in nine years...

Read all about it at http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-18/volatility-falls-most-since-1930s-as-stock-funds-gain.html

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