(Bloomberg) -- The S&P 500 may be punching through fresh records, but it hasn’t been accompanied by high turnover conviction. On the contrary, trading volumes make it feel like no one’s around, even with earnings season kicking off and a fraught presidential vote just round the corner.
In the past few trading days, volume in S&P 500 e-mini futures has consistently stayed below the medium-term average. On Monday, the volume dropped below one million contracts for the first time since July. The 5-day average volume is now about 50% less than over its 100-day time frame.
Such low turnover levels are historically rare and usually only occur in the final trading days of the year or around major holidays.
While past US presidential elections have quieted the market somewhat —- with volume low in 2020 and 2016 — the readings weren’t anything like as muted as what’s seen now.
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