Two Weeks of Stock Travails Pin S&P 500 at Edge of Safety Zone

  • S&P 500 repeatedly finds support at its 50-day moving average
  • The chart pattern emboldens bulls amid growing macro headwinds

Source: iStockphoto/Getty Images

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A quiet procession of down days is starting to add up in the S&P 500. Losses in eight of the last 10 sessions have pushed the stock market to a level where the psychology of dip-buying may finally get a meaningful test.

Investors face a lengthening list of headaches -- weakening earnings forecasts, the slow shift in Federal Reserve policy, and an overseas credit implosion. Against those influences stands simple conditioning: when prices have gone down in 2021, it’s been a safe bet they’ll bounce back. The result has been a market that is by one measure as resilient as it has been in 25 years.