Courtesy of Doug Short
After selling off about half a percent in the morning, the S&P 500 recovered and drifted through the afternoon to a relatively flat finish, up 0.09%. However the gain for the week was an impressive 2.19% owing to big rallies on Tuesday and Thursday. The index is now up 6.95% year-to-date and only 1.36% below the interim high set on April 29.
From an intermediate perspective, the index is 98.8% above the March 2009 closing low and 14.1% 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.
For a bit of international flavor, here’s a chart series that includes an overlay of the S&P 500, the Dow Crash of 1929 and Great Depression, and the so-called L-shaped “recovery” of the Nikkei 225. I update these weekly.
These charts are not intended as a forecast but rather as a way to study the current market in relation to historic market cycles.