The S&P 500 surged at the open, presumably in celebration of the Greek Parliament's voting in favor of an additional package of austerity measures. The opening advance took the index above the 1,350, a level it couldn't maintain during the morning hours, but after an early lunch, the 1,350 level held, and the index closed at 1351.77 for a 0.68% gain.
Last Thursday the index had its first close above 1350 since the selloff from its interim high last spring. The index is up 7.49% year-to-date and is a mere 0.97% below its interim high at the end of April 2011. From an intermediate perspective, the S&P 500 is 99.8% above the March 2009 closing low and 13.6% 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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