After two successive drops, prices moved higher and almost returned to last Thursday’s close. Yet they remain far below recent highs, returning to levels not seen since mid-February.
We have focused on the inordinate length of this growth trend. Now at 1,282 days, it exceeds the last bull market by more than 100 days; it is 223 days longer than the 1996/2000 expansion.
Yet, considering the total advance since 2009, this expansion seems moderate in comparison to the last two bull markets. Today’s diagram confirms this position. It shows the current S&P500 at 271 percent of its 2009 low; that is not significantly larger than the 255 percent gain achieved in 2000.
In fact, considering the average daily gain, today’s market has a lower rate than in 2000. Apportioning the current 271 percent advance by 1,282 trading days, yields .211 percent per day – that stands far lower than the .241 daily advance achieved between 1996 and 2000.
DJIA .91 percent
NASDAQ .57 percent
S&P500 .82 percent
