the biggest oneday drop in more than two years left us stockmarket bulls staring at crucial support for the sp 500 index around 3900 a convincing move below that level would signal the risk of significant pain ahead chart watchers warned market risk “is elevated as long as the index sits below 3900 buyers need to throw everything they have at stocks right now to prevent further damage” said technical analyst andrew adams in a wednesday note for saut strategy the sp 500 spx was up 06 late wednesday morning to trade just shy of 3960 the largecap benchmark dipped in earlier trade hitting a session low of 391878 according to factset taking it below tuesday’s intraday low at 392128 the sp 500 fell 43 on tuesday to close at 393269 its lowest finish since sept 6 after the august consumerprice index showed inflation failed to cool in line with expectations the dow jones industrial average djia dropped over 1200 points for a 39 decline while the nasdaq composite comp slumped 52 the biggest oneday percentage drops for all three benchmarks since june 11 2020 the development of a “battleground” around the 3900 to 3950 level for the sp isn’t a surprise adams wrote noting that it’s served as an important region since early 2021 providing both support and resistance a break below that level would be troubling because it would suggest bears have maintained control he said see chart above chart watchers had highlighted the 3900 area as an important line in the sand as the sp 500 bounced off it early last week analysts at bespoke investment group argued that the 3920 area is crucial marking an uptrend line drawn off the 2022 low set on june 16 “if that trendline…doesn’t hold today it won’t be much of a positive backdrop for a time of year that has historically already been among the weakest times of the year” the bespoke analysts said in a note referring to september’s history as the weakest month of the year for equities adams said there is still time for the 39003950 area to produce a bounce but it needs to happen soon the worry he wrote is that “the deeper we drop the more likely we have begun a new wave to the downside that will take us to lower lows if stocks are going to reverse higher to take out their recent highs i think around current levels is the likeliest spot for that to happen”