On Thursday, May 14, 2010 the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped by almost 10%, then quickly recovered. By analyzing the past 80 years of Dow Jones data, Mike "Mish" Shedlock found that these sort of drops are occurring more frequently and may signal an increasing trend in market volatility.
About this Viz
As you can see above, major drops such as the one on May 7th were once very common, then almost never happened from 1950-1979. However, the past thirty years have seen a resurgence of violent dips. It is anyone's guess as to why, though one must wonder if the increased use of computerized trading is a contributing factor.
