Bull markets don’t die of old age, as investors have been often reminded during this most recent one, but how long on average do they live?
Investors who consult the historical S&P 500 chart will find a technical answer to this question. Market history says anywhere from four to 11 years, and big first-year gains have been followed by longer bull market periods. That could be read as good news for investors inclined to take a technical view of stock momentum: the bull run in the U.S. large cap stock index that began after the sudden Covid collapse of March 2020 posted the biggest first-year gain for the S&P 500 since 1945, according to CFRA Research data.
