The WSJ reports:"it rises to a record, or near one, and then falls back. Just as investors start to fear a big decline, stocks recover. They get back near a record and, whoops, they fall again, and the yo-yo action resumes".
This marks a big change from last year, when the main indexes rose 25% to 30%, their best in more than a decade. This year, the S&P 500 is up 1% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 1%.
Money managers and analysts have several explanations centering on the scale of previous gains, the scope of central-bank support for markets and the outlook for corporate profits. Meanwhile, they are beginning to caution clients: This choppy market is more normal than the buoyant one we have seen since 2009, and the erratic action could become more common now.
