Market Analysis
1969 Bear Market
The 1969 bear market started in November 1968 and lasted for one and a halve years with the market losing around 35%. The bear market ended in May 1970.
Charts from stockcharts.com are used to analyze all of the market cycles that have occurred over the last ninety years. Analyzing the market cycles with charts gives stock investors a visual representation of how the stock market moves over time.
The S&P 500 index is the industry benchmark and is used to analyze the 1969 bear market and all market cycles from 1957.
The S&P 500 index was introduced to the stock market in 1957 and the index included back tested data to 1925 based on the historical prices of the stocks that made up the index. This provided historical data for comparison with the Dow Industrial Average.
90 Year Market Chart
The following chart shows the bear market on a 90-year chart with the S&P 500 index plotted as a bar chart with quarterly bars.
Chart 90yr: 1969 Bear Market
Chart by stockcharts.com
As can be readily observed from the long-term 90-year market chart, the 1969 bear market is just one of many bear markets that have occurred.
The 90-year market chart also shows an 80-quarters (20-year) simple moving average which has spent most of the last ninety years trending upwards. This shows that over the long-term the market has broadly continued higher as the moving average followed the S&P 500 index higher.
20-year Market Chart
The following chart shows the 1969 bear market on a 20-year chart with the S&P 500 index plotted as a monthly bar chart.
Chart 20yr: 1969 Bear Market
Chart by stockcharts.com
A 12-month simple moving average is also plotted on the 20-year market chart. The 12-month moving average is a useful indicator used in Technical Analysis for highlighting market cycles.
As the 20-year market chart shows, the 12-month moving average followed the 1969 bear market lower. The economy was contracting as Gross Domestic Product fell which was compounded by government expenditure restrictions.
The 1969 bear market cut short the preceding 1967-1968 bull market. The chart also reveals that the market would swing considerably over the next decade.
Most investors new to the stock market are under the impression that the stock market only moves in the direction of the current market cycle.
In reality, the stock market moves in cycles and alternates between bull markets (where stock prices broadly increase) and bear markets (where stock prices broadly decline).
Fortunately for investors, bull markets are usually longer than bear markets. This means that stock prices spend more time increasing in value than they do losing value.
Bull markets last anywhere from two years to around a decade, whereas bear markets are shorter and usually last a year or two and sometimes three.
3-year Market Chart
The 1969 bear market is shown again with a shorter time-frame on a 3-year chart plotted as a weekly bar chart.
Chart 5yr: 1969 Bear Market
Chart by stockcharts.com
The shorter time-frame provides more detail. As the chart shows, the 1969 bear market was quite a severe bear market losing 35% in one and a halve years which was driven by investor concerns over a receding economy. The bear market started in November 1968 and ended in May 1970.
Market Chart: Rallies and Pullbacks
The 1969 bear market is shown again with a 3-year line chart and two moving average indicators.
Chart MA: 1969 Bear Market
Chart by stockcharts.com
The above line chart for the S&P 500 index shows a 52-week (long-term) and a 12-week (short-term) simple moving average.
The 52-week moving average (purple line) followed the bear market lower.
The 12-week moving average (orange line) broadly identifies the rallies and pullbacks that occurred.
The stock market initially sold down briefly from November 1968 (noted on the chart with the first RH - which stands for Relative High) and this decline bottomed in March 1969 (the first RL - Relative Low).
The market briefly rallies up until May 1969 (2nd RH) before selling off again with this decline bottoming in July 1969 (2nd RL).
The market undergoes another bear rally until November 1969 (3rd RH), but this rally fails and the S&P 500 index now plunges down to bottom in May 1970 (3rd RH) which was the end of the bear market.
Bear market rallies are common place in bear markets where the market rallies to give investors false hope that the market conditions have improved, but just as quick as the rally started, it then quickly fades.
The 1970-1972 bull market followed on from the 1969 bear market as the economy improved and GDP growth increased.