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Monday, March 6 was a historic day of sorts. At least for those in financial markets.
It was the day that the current bull market in US stocks began, born out of the depths of despair of the global financial crisis.
On March 6, 2009, the S&P 500 hit a low of 666.79 points, a somewhat appropriate level that heralded the start of what has been a remarkable run. It would have been a devil of a day for anyone who sold, or who went short, that day.
A few days later Citibank announced that it had had been profitable in the first two months of 2009, sending beaten down financial stocks soaring.
Tens of trillions of quantitative easing and hundreds of central bank rate cuts later, the S&P 500 has been in a bull market ever since, adding a nifty 250% in the process.
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It’s been a nice ride for investors, if not a little longer than the average duration of bull markets in the past.
The fact it’s now eight years old has got a few investors nervous recently, but not everyone is concerned that its gone a little longer than many seen in the past.
“We are still not seeing the signs of excess, euphoria and exhaustion that typically come at cyclical economic and share market peaks,” Shane Oliver, chief economist at AMP Capital, wrote in a research note last month.
“So barring some sort of external shock, the cyclical bull market in shares looks like it still has further to go — particularly if global economic growth returns to more normal levels which in turn will help earnings.”
For those in Australia, the 8-year anniversary for the bull market for the ASX 200 will arrive on Friday, March 10. On that day the index hit a low of 3,120.8 before beginning its run higher. Not including the impact of currency movements, the index has now added 84%.
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