May 12, 2008
The NASDAQ advanced 1.76 percent today, with the S&P500 and the DJIA moving more modestly, but still going up 1.1 percent and 1.02 percent, respectively.
This is the 16th increase in excess of one percent this year for the S&P500, and comes just seven days after its last previous occurrence on May 1. While the other two indices also shared May 1 as their last, greater than one percent increase, for the NASDAQ, today is its 18th such advance this year, and for the DJIA the 14th event in 2008.
It is now 39 trading days since the most recent low point of these averages was posted on March 17, and during this period, the S&P500, for example, increased more than one percent on seven occasions. Contrasting with the 51 trading days between March 16 and January 2, there were ten days of gains greater than one percent.
Therefore, the difference in the number of trading days per a rise of more than one percent, is quite small: 5.6 days since the trough and 5.1 days before the trough.
However, there is a substantial difference in the performance of these two periods: the S&P500 gained 9.9 percent in the last 39 days, while it lost 11.8 percent between January 2 and March 17 of this year.
DJIA 1.02 percent
NASDAQ 1.76 percent
S&P500 1.10 percent