The stock market jumped 1% today. Lending Tree, a peer-to-peer lender, has a average daily range of 5.5%. Are these large movements and how do we tell?

Answer 1

Yes, arguably these are large moves though not impossible during unusual times when market is very volatile or highly profitable! For example, in recent years average SP500's daily percent changes (i.e. returns) have been around 0.05% but also large gains (~9% daily) and large losses (~10%) are observed. A daily range of 5.5% compared with the 1% market movement is also somewhat large but remember range is the difference between the maximum (gain) and minimum (loss) and doesn't inform us much about the average profitability and so on. For example, Max=3% and min=-2.5% with a mean of zero, or Max=5% and min=-0.05% with a mean of 3% profit.