Wednesday, May 23, 2007

After the record

According to Standard & Poor's Chief Technical Strategist Mark Arbeter, the technical picture for the S&P 500 indicates the benchmark will probably eclipse its record closing high of 1527.46, set on March 24, 2000, sometime in May or June of this year.

If Arbeter is right (and he usually is) what will that mean for future market action once the adrenaline rush has subsided?

If history can serve as a guide (but remember past performance is no guarantee of future results), we will likely see sub-par price performance in the first month following the setting of a new high, and then find above-average price appreciation in the three and six months after. In addition, the next market top usually occurred around three years after the setting of a record high.

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