A look at previous bull markets

Founder and President of Heartfile, Pakistani Sania Nishtar, speaks during a debate on religion at the 43rd Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. Who created Davos, and why does it exist? Questions about God and religion came up often at the World Economic Forum this year providing a break from the temporal concerns that tend to dominate Davos and showing that even the jet set is preoccupied with the meaning of life, at least in these turbulent times.(AP Photo/Michel Euler)
US David Saperstein, director of the Union for Reform Judaism's Religious Action Center gestures as he speaks during a debate on religion at the 43rd Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. Who created Davos, and why does it exist? Questions about God and religion came up often at the World Economic Forum this year providing a break from the temporal concerns that tend to dominate Davos and showing that even the jet set is preoccupied with the meaning of life, at least in these turbulent times.(AP Photo/Michel Euler)
India's Minister of Heavy Industries and Public enterprises, Praful Patel, gestures as he speaks during a debate on religion at the 43rd Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. Who created Davos, and why does it exist? Questions about God and religion came up often at the World Economic Forum this year providing a break from the temporal concerns that tend to dominate Davos and showing that even the jet set is preoccupied with the meaning of life, at least in these turbulent times.(AP Photo/Michel Euler)
The Washington National Cathedral assembles 20 tiny angels to honor the memory of the schoolchildren killed at the elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. The creations are made from styrofoam and doilies. (Dec. 26)
Tinker, a miniature horse in Wisconsin, brings in 10 times the amount of donations as regular Salvation Army bell ringers (Nov. 30)
FILE - In this Dec. 13, 2011 file photo, a man walks past two of the traditional Nativity scenes along Ocean Avenue at Palisades Park in Santa Monica, Calif. Avowed atheist Damon Vix last year won two-thirds of the booths in the annual, city-sponsored lottery to divvy up spaces in the live-sized Nativity display. But he only put up one thing: A sign that read "Religions are all alike - founded on fables and mythologies." Vix left the rest of his allotted spaces empty, and in so doing, upended a Christmas tradition that began in Santa Monica nearly 60 years ago. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu, file)
FILE - In this Dec. 13, 2011 file photo, a woman walks past a two of the traditional displays showing the Nativity scene along Ocean Avenue at Palisades Park in Santa Monica, Calif. Avowed atheist Damon Vix last year won two-thirds of the booths in the annual, city-sponsored lottery to divvy up spaces in the live-sized Nativity display. But he only put up one thing: A sign that read "Religions are all alike - founded on fables and mythologies." Vix left the rest of his allotted spaces empty, and in so doing, upended a Christmas tradition that began in Santa Monica nearly 60 years ago. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu, file)
This Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012 photo shows avowed atheist Damon Vix in his home in Burbank, Calif. Vix last year won two-thirds of the booths in the annual, city-sponsored lottery to divvy up spaces in a live-sized Nativity display in Palisades Park in Santa Monica, Calif. But he only put up one thing: A sign that read "Religions are all alike - founded on fables and mythologies." Vix left the rest of his allotted spaces empty, and in so doing, upended a Christmas tradition that began in Santa Monica nearly 60 years ago. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

Founder and President of Heartfile, Pakistani Sania Nishtar, speaks during a debate on religion at the 43rd Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. Who created Davos, and why does it exist? Questions about God and religion came up often at the World Economic Forum this year providing a break from the temporal concerns that tend to dominate Davos and showing that even the jet set is preoccupied with the meaning of life, at least in these turbulent times.(AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Founder and President of Heartfile, Pakistani Sania Nishtar, speaks during a debate on religion at the 43rd Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. Who created Davos, and why does it exist? Questions about God and religion came up often at the World Economic Forum this year providing a break from the temporal concerns that tend to dominate Davos and showing that even the jet set is preoccupied with the meaning of life, at least in these turbulent times.(AP Photo/Michel Euler)
US David Saperstein, director of the Union for Reform Judaism's Religious Action Center gestures as he speaks during a debate on religion at the 43rd Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. Who created Davos, and why does it exist? Questions about God and religion came up often at the World Economic Forum this year providing a break from the temporal concerns that tend to dominate Davos and showing that even the jet set is preoccupied with the meaning of life, at least in these turbulent times.(AP Photo/Michel Euler)
India's Minister of Heavy Industries and Public enterprises, Praful Patel, gestures as he speaks during a debate on religion at the 43rd Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. Who created Davos, and why does it exist? Questions about God and religion came up often at the World Economic Forum this year providing a break from the temporal concerns that tend to dominate Davos and showing that even the jet set is preoccupied with the meaning of life, at least in these turbulent times.(AP Photo/Michel Euler)
The Washington National Cathedral assembles 20 tiny angels to honor the memory of the schoolchildren killed at the elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. The creations are made from styrofoam and doilies. (Dec. 26)
Tinker, a miniature horse in Wisconsin, brings in 10 times the amount of donations as regular Salvation Army bell ringers (Nov. 30)
FILE - In this Dec. 13, 2011 file photo, a man walks past two of the traditional Nativity scenes along Ocean Avenue at Palisades Park in Santa Monica, Calif. Avowed atheist Damon Vix last year won two-thirds of the booths in the annual, city-sponsored lottery to divvy up spaces in the live-sized Nativity display. But he only put up one thing: A sign that read "Religions are all alike - founded on fables and mythologies." Vix left the rest of his allotted spaces empty, and in so doing, upended a Christmas tradition that began in Santa Monica nearly 60 years ago. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu, file)
FILE - In this Dec. 13, 2011 file photo, a woman walks past a two of the traditional displays showing the Nativity scene along Ocean Avenue at Palisades Park in Santa Monica, Calif. Avowed atheist Damon Vix last year won two-thirds of the booths in the annual, city-sponsored lottery to divvy up spaces in the live-sized Nativity display. But he only put up one thing: A sign that read "Religions are all alike - founded on fables and mythologies." Vix left the rest of his allotted spaces empty, and in so doing, upended a Christmas tradition that began in Santa Monica nearly 60 years ago. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu, file)
This Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012 photo shows avowed atheist Damon Vix in his home in Burbank, Calif. Vix last year won two-thirds of the booths in the annual, city-sponsored lottery to divvy up spaces in a live-sized Nativity display in Palisades Park in Santa Monica, Calif. But he only put up one thing: A sign that read "Religions are all alike - founded on fables and mythologies." Vix left the rest of his allotted spaces empty, and in so doing, upended a Christmas tradition that began in Santa Monica nearly 60 years ago. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

A look at previous bull markets

Print Page Updated: 09:15:21 PM, Tue 05 March 2013

Ever since the Roaring '20s and the crash that followed, sixteen bull markets have come and gone. The longest lasted nearly 10 years; the shortest seven months. At 4 years and counting, the duration of the current one is right in line with the historical average.

Here's a rundown of previous bull markets, as calculated by S&P Capital IQ:

Start End Beginning S&P Ending S&P Pct Gain Duration

Aug. 1921 Sep. 1929 6.45 31.92 395 8 years, 1 month

June 1932 July 1933 4.40 12.20 177 1 year, 2 months

Mar. 1935 Mar. 1937 8.06 18.68 132 2 years

Mar. 1938 Nov. 1938 8.50 13.79 62 7 months

Apr. 1942 May 1946 7.47 19.25 158 4 years, 1 month

May 1947 June 1948 13.71 17.06 24 1 year, 1 month

June 1949 Aug. 1956 13.55 49.74 267 7 years, 2 months

Oct. 1957 Dec. 1961 38.98 72.64 86 4 years, 2 months

June 1962 Feb. 1966 52.32 94.06 80 3 years, 7 months

Oct. 1966 Nov. 1968 73.20 108.37 48 2 years, 2 months