one year after the bottom

If you'd asked anyone on March 9, 2009, what they expected next from the stock market, they might have said, "More misery."

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU) had fallen to 6,547, its lowest close in 12 years. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index ($INX) had dropped 7 points to 677, its lowest close since 1996. The Nasdaq Composite Index's ($COMPX) finish of 1,269 was its worst since 2002.

But the next day, officials of Citigroup (C), one of the nation's most troubled financial institutions, said it was enjoying its best quarterly performance since 2007, and the Dow jumped 379 points.

That was the start of one of the U.S. stock market's great rallies. Since the March 9, 2009, bottom, the Dow is up 61.2%. The S&P 500 is up 68.3%, and the Nasdaq is up 83.8%.

As of Monday, 489 of the 500 stocks in the S&P 500 are higher since the March lows. The average gain: 115.6%.