Let’s examine bear market recovery times and the relative outperformance by some of the Rules of Wall Street. This is the 16th bear market since 1929. Its more than 50% decline makes it the worst bear market since 1945, and the third worst since 1929. But when this bear market finally ends, be prepared for a fast and furious partial recovery. Figure P.2 shows that in the first year of a new bull market, the average price rise for the S&P 500 was 46%. What’s more, the “500” recovered more than 82%
of the prior bear market’s loss in that first year. I can’t guarantee that the market will respond the same way this time
around, but successful investors play the odds—and the odds point to a surge in the first year of a new bull market.