Viscoelastic behavior of stock indices

The scattering diagram of a stock index results in a complex network structure, which can be used to analyze the viscoelastic properties of the index. The change along x- or y-direction of the diagram corresponds to purely elastic (or spring like) movement whereas the diagonal change at an angle of 45° corresponds to purely viscous (or dashpot like) movement. The viscous component pushes the price from its current value to any other value, while the elastic component acts like a restoring force. Four indices, namely, DJI, S&P-500, NASDAQ-100, and NASDAQ-composite were studied for the period of 2001–2009. NASDAQ-composite displayed very high elasticity while NASDAQ-100 displayed the highest fluidity in the time period considered. The fluidity of DJI and S&P-500 came out to be close to each other, and they are almost the same in the second half of the period.