We recently hit the two-year anniversary of the current bull market in stocks. As a refresher, a bull market happens when stock prices have gone up 20% or more from the previous low for a sustained period of time. The current bull market started on October 12, 2022, and is being sustained by an expanding economy, low unemployment, and, most recently, falling interest rates.
Two years seems like a pretty long time for stocks to go up consistently, so how long can we expect this bull market to last? There’s no fool-proof way to determine the length of a bull market with any accuracy but we can look at historical data to see how long they have lasted in the past.
The table below shows all the bull markets of the S&P 500 index since the early 1930’s.
As you can see, bull markets have averaged almost 4.5 years in length so there’s a good chance that this bull market still has a ways to go. Of course, there are always unknown events that could throw a wrench into this bull, and don’t forget about an election that’s only a few weeks away that could stir up some volatility.
Please comment or send an email if you have any questions.
Joe Baker, CFP®
Baker Asset Management, LLC
joebaker@bakerassemanagement.com
