Courtesy of Doug Short.
Well, the big Wednesday pop in the U.S. markets has been completely erased, and then some. Blame it on Europe, the epicenter of the latest wave in the global financial crisis. The S&P 500 fell 2.67% today to close the week with a loss of 1.68%. The index is in the red year-to-date at -8.22%, which is 15.35% below the interim high set on April 29.
From an intermediate perspective, the index is 70.6% above the March 2009 closing low and 26.3% 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.
