Courtesy of Doug Short.
The S&P 500 popped at the open and slid to briefly into the red by late morning, and then mounted a slow rally to a modest closing gain of 0.23% for the day and 1.38% for the week. Today’s close set a new year-to-date high of 8.24%. The index is only 0.17% below its interim high at the end of April 2011.
From an intermediate perspective, the S&P 500 is 101.2% above the March 2009 closing low and 13.0% 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.
