Courtesy of Doug Short.
The S&P 500 opened higher, following the example set in Europe. It hit its interim high mid-morning, up 0.76%, but the rally faded throughout the afternoon, and the index closed with a fractional gain of 0.12%. The weekly gain came in at 0.60%. The index year-to-date is up a respectable 9.62%, which is 2.85% off its interim closing high set twelve sessions ago.
From an intermediate perspective, the S&P 500 is 103.8% above the March 2009 closing low and 11.9% below the nominal all-time high of October 2007.
Below are two charts of the index, with and without the 50 and 200-day moving averages.
For a better sense of how these declines figure into a larger historical context, here’s a long-term view of secular bull and bear markets in the S&P Composite since 1871.
These charts are not intended as a forecast but rather as a way to study the current market in relation to historic market cycles.
