Three Fascinating Facts on the Recent Rally

The below interesting little tidbits of data on our recent rally come to us from BTN Research by way of ETF provider Direxion…

♦ The S&P 500 gained +6.6% (total return) during the first 2 months of 2013, 67% of the average annual total return achieved over the last 50 calendar years.

♦ 7 of the last 10 bull markets for the S&P 500 stock index have reached at least 3 years in length and 5 of the 10 lasted at least 5 years.  The current bull market is the 11th bull for the S&P 500 since 1950 and it will reach 4 years in length as of Saturday 3/09/13

♦ The S&P 500 fell 57% from peak to trough during the index’s 2007-09 bear market, its 10th bear market in the last 60 years.  In the aftermath of the 9 previous bear markets (defined as an S&P 500 tumble of at least 20%), the index recovered each time and closed above the previous bull market high.  The average length of time to bounce-back (from its bear low) and close at a new record high is 23 months.  This upcoming Saturday (3/09/13) marks the 4-year anniversary (i.e., 48 months) of the low close from the 2007-09 bear market.  The index must gain another +3.1% from last week’s close to reach a record high