Here’s how much damage has been done to the stock market during a powerful rout

Nearly 1,400 points and more than 5.2%: That is the degree to which the Dow Jones Industrial Average has gotten wrecked since Oct. 9, underscoring a punishing plunge for the broader stock market that appears to be the on verge of shedding its bullishness. So, how much damage has been done to the integrity of a stock market that just last week was testing the bounds of psychological heights at around 27,000?

Quite a lot, it seems. For example, the S&P 500 index finished Thursday below its 200-day moving average for the first time since April 2, after going 134 days without breaching that long-term bullish line in the sand. The S&P 500 SPX, -2.06% gave up 57.31 points, or 2.1%, to 2,728.37 on Thursday. Market technicians use moving averages as the demarcation between bullish and bearish momentum in an asset.

The Russell 2000 RUT, -1.91% an index for small-caps, finished in correction territory, defined as a decline from a recent peak of at least 10%, after falling 27.27 points, or 1.7%, to 1,547.83. The Nasdaq, which ended below its 200-day moving average on Wednesday, nearly closed in correction phase, but ended Thursday’s session off 1.3% at 7,329.06. Meanwhile, the Dow closed below its long-term moving average for the first time since July. Higher government bond yields have been partly blamed for the recent downturn because rising rates equate to higher borrowing costs for corporations and individuals. They also divert investment away from stocks.

Thursday’s downdraft was marked by the fourth-largest volume, with 11.3 billion shares changing hands, since Feb. 9, amid a sizable sell order around 2:30 p.m. that added to the downswing and had traders buzzing. The researcher shows one chart that indicates that the S&P 500 remains about 5% shy of correction territory and about 15.4% short of a bear market, usually defined of as a drop of at least 20% from a recent high.