The date was March 9, 2009, and the S&P 500 Index was trading at its lowest level since the mid-1990s. The equity market was in literal freefall, and nearly everyone on both Wall Street and Main Street was worried that the U.S. economy -- and the U.S. equity markets -- were about to collapse.
Well, a funny thing happened about midway through that March 9 trading session. People all of the sudden started to get bullish. And during the next 12 months, we witnessed the S&P 500 Index rise nearly 70% off of its lows.
The tremendous bull market recovery during the past 12 months can be seen in dramatic fashion with a quick glance at the one-year chart below of the S&P 500.
As you can see, it’s been nearly a rocket ride higher for much of the past year. Even a sell-off at the beginning of 2010 now has morphed into a near recapturing of the recent 52-week high.…