1992 and 1996 are the last dates on which the DJIA scored ten gains in a row. A more telling fact is that this index has moved higher 34 times in the 50 trading days of this year. That rate of daily gains -68 percent- is substantially higher than the average of 56 percent positive days during the last two bull markets.
Further, the S&P500 positive days also averaged 68 percent since the beginning of 2012. These figures indicate just how hot this market is.
By contrast, the NASDAQ positive ratio this year is 56 percent; the exact same rate of positive days experienced in the 2003/2007 and 2009/date upswings.
Yet these comparisons do not translate automatically into an overheated DJIA and S&P500 thrust. Consider that the S&P500, at 99.88 percent of its 2007 top remains the laggard of these indices. Similarly, the DJIA though standing at 102.64 percent of its last high, stands far behind the NASDAQs achievement of 116.23 percent of that 2007 close.
These two factors yield a plausible explanation of the ongoing spurt. First, a further expansion at current rates contradicts recent history. Second, prices may continue to move at recent levels until the lagging indices, the DJIA and the S&P500, catch up to, and reach the same level of recovery, as the NASDAQ.
DJIA .58 percent
NASDAQ .43 percent
S&P500 .56 percent