S&P 500 index has now doubled in value since March ’09 low

With today’s gain, the S&P 500 index has now more than doubled in value from the Mar. 9, 2009 bear market low.

The S&P 500 index climbed 8.42 points to close at 1355.66, which translates into a 100.38 percent gain from the March 2009 low of 676.53 – a doubling of the index in 26 months.

(This data excludes stocks that are no longer in the index since that span of time – including such well known companies as Lehman Brothers, General Motors, Washington Mutual, Fannie Mae, etc.)

However, Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst at Standard & Poor’s, cautioned that the doubling of the market value needs to be looked at with perspective.

“The index [still] remains 13.38 percent off its Oct. 9, 2007 high, and [remains] 7.73 percent down from [the 2000 high],” he said.

Looking specifically at the index components, Silverblatt noted that since the March 9, 2009 low, 303 components of the S&P 500 index have doubled in price since that date; with only 10 stocks having declined since.

Moreover, from the October 2007 high, 16 stocks in the index have doubled, 42 more companies have gained at least 50 percent, another 172 have shown positive gains, and the other 263 have dropped in value.