Is the Dow Jones Industrial Average more reactive to daily news events than in the past?
I know a lot is going on now with the ‘fiscal cliff’, with +/- 1% swings, even intraday, as comments come out of Washington.
But such volatility seems more pronounced than in the past. Sometimes it seems like “Stocks were off sharply on news that the sun will rise in the east.”
Is there any historic data available on the average daily variation (percentage) now vs times past?
In short, is the Stock Market more jumpy than it used to be?
That is, in percentage terms, no. However, the absolute changes tend to be much larger now because the Dow is higher. In the 1930s a 1% change would be 1. Today a 1% change is 130. That’s psychologically much more noticeable, as in this chart. The percentage volatility chart tells a very different story.