The S&P 500 opened Wednesday fractionally in the red, but advanced throughout the day to close with a gain of 1.11%. That's the second best daily close of 2012, with the top spot, a gain of 1.55%, held by the opening day of the year. Of the 11 S&P 500 market days in 2012, nine have been advances. The index has a year-to-date gain of 4.01%. It is 4.08% below its interim high at the end of April 2011.
From an intermediate perspective, the S&P 500 is 93.3% above the March 2009 closing low and 16.4% below the nominal all-time high of October 2007.
Below are two charts of the index, with and without the 50 and 200-day moving averages.
For a better sense of how these declines figure into a larger historical context, here's a long-term view of secular bull and bear markets in the S&P Composite since 1871.
For a bit of international flavor, here's a chart series that includes an overlay of the S&P 500, the Dow Crash of 1929 and Great Depression, and the so-called L-shaped "recovery" of the Nikkei 225. I update these weekly.
These charts are not intended as a forecast but rather as a way to study the current market in relation to historic market cycles.
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