Europe's debt crisis is resolved! At least that's the way the market behaved. The S&P 500 started the week with a Monday gain of 3.41%, the best daily performance since August 23rd (actually August had three daily closes higher than today).
Year-to-date the index is in the red at but 12.37% below the interim high of April 29.
From an intermediate perspective, the index is 76.6% above the March 2009 closing low and 23.7% 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.
Click to enlarge
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.
