August 5, 2008
Of course such price advances are welcome news. The DJIA has recorded only 25 such closes since 2000. The S&P500 has a few more: 33; while the NASDAQ has 104 days with gains in excess of todays 2.81 percent.
Yet there is a downside to this record of strong performance: all of the S&P500 gains in this century, in excess of todays 2.87 percent, came in two segments. The first as the market headed down, between 2000 and 2003, and the second, after the market peaked in September 2007, and lasting until today.
When prices were moving ahead, between 2003 and 2007, there was not a single day on which the S&P500 scored such a large gain.
It is true that the NASDAQ managed two closes greater than todays 2.81 percent in that rising market; but these occurred when prices were making a minor, negative correction.
DJIA 2.94 percent
NASDAQ 2.81 percent
S&P500 2.87 percent