Quote from ralph00:
That is not what I said at all. The point of the original post was that its possible that we haven't even started to see a booming stock market yet.
Recoveries from big bear markets are usually front-loaded. Years 2 and 3 generally see the markets treading water with a slight upward bias and at least one meaningful correction. E.g. 1933-35, 1975-77, 2003-2005, emerging markets from 1999-2001 and so on.
Bear in mind that the biggest rally in the US was 1932 and that was after an 89% bear market. This time we had a 58% decline and have had a 70% rally. I doubt we are going to have a gain as big as the 1932-33 rally. That means a likely top significantly before we approach 1932-33 in magnitude. Here are some levels:
1200 = 80% rally
1300 = 95% rally
1400 = 110% rally
I really doubt we are going to have a rally close to the one off the 1932 lows. I suspect something like 1200-1250 is a likely maximum upside for the current rally. That is also far enough (7-10%) to incorporate a bit of "crazy" speculation coming in too.
To get even close to the returns from the mid to late 90s, we would have to take out the 2007 highs some time in 2010 or 2011. When was the last bubble where the bubble high was breached within 2 years of the bear market low? It has never happened. In order for the pattern of prior crashes and recoveries to maintain, this rally would peter out significantly below the bubble top of 1576.
Your analogy year of 1995 was also 5-6 years after the top of the prior credit boom, and 3 years after the bear market low, whereas 2010 is only 3 years after the top and 1 year after the low. 3 years after prior major bear lows we have 1935, 1977, 2005/06. Stock returns weren't bad but they weren't great either, nothing like the late 1990s.
Basically, the historical record doesn't support the idea of subsequent years having amazing upside. More likely is a little bit more upside, maybe to 1200-1250, and then a decent correction or wide long trading range. Looking at the eras mentioned should give an idea of what is more likely to happen IMO.
One last point - if something like a Twitter IPO coincides with a significant rally to 1200 or beyond, then that would be a classic timing factor to exit longs and start playing the short side in a signfiicant way. I would wager ready money that the market top occurs within a few weeks or even days if that IPO happens after a further rally from here. It would be the classic sucker play to go long after a 80%+ rally because a gogo company on a huge multiple does an IPO, and I will almost certainly short if and when that happens.