Number Of New 52-Week Lows Increased To A 17-Month High

As we are sitting here watching another potential 1% down day in the S&P 500 (we commented about  this earlier in the week here and here), we thought we would take a quick look at cumulative net new highs and lows. For the MSCI World, the 1-quarter sum of new 52-week lows has increased to the highest level since October 2012 (left axis is inverted on the first chart). Meanwhile, the 1-quarter sum of new 52-week highs has steadily been falling since the beginning of the year. This has brought the net new 52-week highs (highs minus lows) into range of breaking the low set in September 2013. As 2011 shows, this can go from a very positive number to a very negative number in just a few months so it is something to keep an eye on.