Guest post by Doug Short.

This chart series features an overlay of the Four Bad Bears in U.S. history since the market peak in 1929. They are:

The series includes four versions of the overlay: nominal, real (inflation-adjusted), total-return with dividends reinvested, and real total-return.

The first chart shows the price, excluding dividends for these four historic declines and their aftermath. We are now at 1143 market days from the 2007 peak in the S&P 500. In nominal terms (not adjusting for inflation) over the same elapsed time, the current market is our top performer, 12.7% below its peak. The 1973 Oil Embargo bear is in second at -14.1% with the post-Tech Bubble in third place at -27.1%. The crash of 1929 fared far worse at -65.2%.

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