Look Out for the 2008 Comparisons

If the market can't rally on Friday, then I suspect the talk of the S&P 500 triangle formation will disappear -- and, instead, we'll see an increasing number of comparisons with 2008. I wrote about this comparison about three weeks ago, well before the S&P was near the 200-day moving average line, but since I've seen it arise all over the place.

As a refresher, let's revisit the chart from 2008. From the fall of 2007 through early spring of 2008, a head-and-shoulders top formed in the S&P. When Bear Stearns began to falter in late February and early March, the index plunged, making a low around 1250 in mid-March. From there the S&P rallied about 15% over the course of six to eight weeks, until it kissed the 200-day moving average line. That period is noted in the red box, labeled "A," on the chart below....495 more words left in this article. To read them, just click below and try Real Money FREE for 14 days.

Read the full story and get access to the Real Money Pro trading floor.

There’s no substitute for a trading floor to get great ideas, so Jim Cramer created a better one at Real Money and blogs there exclusively. We then added legendary hedge fund manager, Doug Kass, with his exclusive Daily Diary and best investing ideas. Staffed with more than 4 dozen investing pros, money managers, journalists and analysts, Real Money Pro gives you a flood of opinions, analysis and actionable trading advice found nowhere else, and allows you to interact directly with each expert.

Already a Subscriber? Please login.

Except as otherwise indicated, quotes are delayed. Quotes delayed at least 20 minutes for all exchanges. Market Data provided by Interactive Data. Company fundamental data provided by Morningstar. Earnings and ratings provided by Zacks. Mutual fund data provided by Valueline. ETF data provided by Lipper. Powered and implemented by Interactive Data Managed Solutions.

TheStreet Ratings updates stock ratings daily. However, if no rating change occurs, the data on this page does not update. The data does update after 90 days if no rating change occurs within that time period.

IDC calculates the Market Cap for the basic symbol to include common shares only. Year-to-date mutual fund returns are calculated on a monthly basis by Value Line and posted mid-month.