The S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 both flashed the dreaded “death cross” formation on Monday.
The technical sell signal occurs when an index’s 200-day moving average rises above its 50-day moving average. It can signal a reversal in a prior trend — in this case, the two-year bull market in stocks.
The development comes on the heels heightened volatility in recent days, which saw the S&P 500 fall 11% in just two days and flirt with bear-market territory before posting a historic 10% single-day gain the following week.
Resulting price action saw the 50-day moving average fall to 5,747, just a few points below the 200-day moving average of 5,753, at a certain point on Monday.
This is the first time the S&P 500 has flashed a death cross since March 2022, the early days of a bear market sell-off sparked by surging inflation and interest rates. The index went on to decline by as much as 16% before finding its bottom in…
