Bull Market Duration

I wanted to add one thing to our discussion last week regarding the possibility of the S&P 500 going to 3,000 at some point.  While we talked about the potential to get to that level in some future year, we didn't discuss anything about the current markets.  We'll tackle that subject over the next week   or so when we'll look at the market's fundamentals, valuation and money flow analysis.

Today I wanted to show you this chart from "Chart of the Day". It shows you that irrespective of whatever anybody thinks about where the market might be in the future, the current bull market has been below average.  I think that is about right since the economy has been growing at a below average rate.  Here's the chart and their commentary:

"{T}oday's chart provides some perspective to current rally by plotting all major S&P 500 rallies of the last 82 years. With the S&P 500 up 91% since its October 2011 lows (the 2011 correction resulted in a significant 19.4% decline), the current rally is slightly below average in magnitude and above average in duration. In fact, of the 23 rallies plotted on today's chart, the current rally would rank 7th in duration."

Notes:
- A major stock market rally has been defined as a S&P 500 gain of 30% or more (following a correction of at least 15%).
- The S&P 500 was not adjusted for inflation or dividends.
- Selected rallies were labeled with the year in which they began.
- There are 252 trading days in a year (100 trading days equal about 4.8 calendar months).

Link:  Chart of the Day: Comparison of Previous Bull Markets and Today.

* Long ETFs related to the S&P 500 in both client and personal accounts.  Please note these positions can change at any time.