The S&P 500 lost a full percent on the final day of trading in 2009. The index is 64.8% above the March 9th close, which is 28.8% below the peak in October 2007.

Year over year, the index is up 23.5%.

Here is a StockCharts.com snapshot showing the relationship of the S&P 500 to its 50- and 200-day simple moving averages.

Click here to review the previous rallies during the current bear market, and here's a table showing the 1929-1932 Dow rallies.

Since inflation is a favorite topic on this website, I now regularly update a set of charts to facilitate a comparison of the nominal and real declines. See also my logarithmic scale view of the "Four Bad Bears" comparison.

For charts of other bear market recoveries, see The Bear Bottoming Process.

Since inflation is a favorite topic on this website, I now regularly update a set of charts to facilitate a comparison of the nominal and real declines. See also my logarithmic scale view of the "Four Bad Bears" comparison.

These charts are not intended as a forecast but rather as a way to study the current decline in relation to three familiar bears from history.

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 the so-called L-shaped "recovery" of the Nikkei 225. I update these weekly.