Finally, after five consecutive gains, the NASDAQ and the S&P500 declined. Yet the overall price trend reveals substantial momentum. So far, 71 percent of the S&P500 closes showed gains, whereas in earlier months this ratio was in the 50 to 60 percent range.
Prices close with new highs on a near every day basis, as this expansion, now in its 1,164th day, continues, though this bull market already is the longest on record. Thus it becomes reasonable to compare features of this market to what happened as the most recent two tops since 1996 reached their upper turning points.
Today we focus on the number of consecutive up days, considering only runs longer than four consecutive days. The diagram reveals two recent sets of eight successive gains. These runs occurred also in the two earlier expansions. However, with these happening about half way in their run before reaching their tops, we can infer that the current bull market will continue for some time, before prices start their decline.
DJIA -.35 percent
NASDAQ -.57 percent
S&P500 -.47 percent
