The Dow Industrials continues to teeter round the 10,000 level, while the S&P 500 has hit some resistance around its 1,100 level over the past week.
Still, the Dow has risen 56% since its 12.5-year low in March, while the S&P has soared 56% during that time. Despite this significant run-up, the Dow is still off 29% and the S&P remains 30% from their historic highs set back in October 2007.
Regardless, the markets have been very resilient during this recovery period - defying expectations from many market observers for a market correction after the significant run-up. In fact, since March, the S&P’s biggest (and longest) pullback was a 7% decline in a downward trend that lasted one month and ended with the start of the summer rally in July. While that was a notable retreat, it was a far cry from the 10%, 15%, and even 20% correction some market watchers had been expecting.
>> Top Stocks Since the Rally Began
Overall, the markets have fended off attempts to pull back fairly well. Aside from the June-July retreat, the market has had only six other instances of minor, but notable, dips since March. Those declines have been only slightly over 4%, on average, and have been short in duration – lasting no more than 8 trading sessions. Even so, half over those six notable pullbacks only lasted 1-2 days.
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