The NASDAQ slipped -.20 percent whereas the DJIA and the S&P500 ended with small gains. This closing combination -the DJIA and S&P500, up one day; the NASDAQ down one day- is rare, occurring on only 20 days in the past 17 years.
Another oddity of this pattern is how these days appear in close proximity. Our diagram shows two happening within 22 days of each other during the 2004 bull market. Another sequence of four such closes last year, within a 12 day period.
Note also that one of these closes came just 59 days before the 2000 market top.
Today’s diagram reveals the significant strength of this expansion, relative to the two earlier bull markets of this century. The S&P500 currently stands just about 20 percent above their highest prices; further, at 1,174 days of expansion, it is 20 days longer than the 2003/2007 expansion, and 115 days older than the bull market that ended in 2000.
DJIA .82 percent
NASDAQ -.20 percent
S&P500 .43 percent
