Fascinating Chart o' the Day: Has the Stock Market Really Gone Up?

Here's an interesting chart that demonstrates just how closely the stock market tracks the U.S. dollar.

The red line represents the S&P 500. The blue line represents the inverse of the U.S. dollar versus a stable currency (in this case, the Canadian dollar*). In other words, when the dollar goes down, the blue line goes up. And vice versa.

Put simply, the S&P 500, measured in the dollar's real value, has been flat for quite some time. When SPY goes up, the dollar goes down.


On the Toronto Stock Exchange, the Horizons BetaPro U.S. Dollar Bear Plus ETF trades under the symbol HDD. Its intent is to generate "daily investment results equal to 200% of the... inverse performance" of the U.S. dollar against the Canadian dollar.

Hat tip: Business Insider.