Sharpest Equity Market Rally During A Recession

Published September 14th, 2009 in Economy Tags: bear market rally, David Rosenberg, economy, NBER, recession, unemployment, unemployment rate.

This bear market we’ve just had (is it over?) has been one fit for superlatives. So why not its inevitable counter-rally (or is it a bull market?).

The chart below is from economist David Rosenberg who now plies his trade at Gluskin & Sheff. In it he points out that what we’ve seen since the spring of this year is the Sharpest Equity Market Rally Ever in the Context of Pricing Out of the Recession:
(Click to see a larger graph open in a new window)

That’s a 54% rise from March 9th 2009 to September 11th, 2009. The closest rally in comparison is 44% in 1929-1933.

Is this recession over? No one really knows. But the sharpest rally ever from within a recession is just one more notch in the belt of this bat$hit insane market.

I, for one, look forward to becoming a curmudgeon and poking my grand kids with my walnut walking stick as I regale them with tales from the bear markets of 2000 and 2008.