I don't think you can overlay these charts and say OK, Nikkei rallied X months after its top so S&P should also rally after X months, that's nonsense. The only thing it tells you is that after a bubble markets don't come back for possibly decades, even if there are impressive rallies . After a few years the market settles in a trading range which is likely for S&P over the next 5 years. That said I too think we are going to have a nice rally sometime this year. I think there could well be a very unexpected solution to the Iraqi conflict. I think Saddam is just going to flee, that would be the smartest thing to do given the determination of the US.
