Bear Turns to Bull?

Bear Turns to Bull?: "
March 2, 2010 updated each market day

The S&P 500 closed the day up 0.23%, which puts the index up 0.3% for the year. The index is 65.3% above the March 9, 2009 closing low, which is 28.5% below the peak in October 2007.

Here is a StockCharts.com snapshot showing the relationship of the S&P 500 to its 50- and 200-day simple moving averages.

Click here to review the previous rallies during the current bear market, and here's a table showing the 1929-1932 Dow rallies.

Since inflation is a favorite topic on this website, I now regularly update a set of charts to facilitate a comparison of the nominal and real declines. See also my logarithmic scale view of the 'Four Bad Bears' comparison.

For charts of other bear market recoveries, see The Bear Bottoming Process.

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 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.

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