Here's a new chart we've just deployed on DecisionPoint.com, showing the 52-week new highs and new lows for just the stocks in the S&P 500 Index. I think this is useful because it shows what is happening with the stocks in the world's most "indexed" index. I have been collecting this data since 2001, but I have never seen it on a chart before. The most surprising aspect to me was that there were not more new lows in 2002 as the market was putting in a bottom, but I assume this is due to the high sponsorship of these stocks.
Currently, the most obvious feature is the sharp contraction of new highs over the last few months, even as the price index has been bumping along near bull market highs. This is a negative divergence and doesn't bode well for the market this late in the bull run. There has been some expansion of new lows, but nothing to compare to the recent 200 new lows on the NYSE (a reflection of what is happening to interest rate sensitive issues on the NYSE that are not common stocks).
