S&P 500 Chases History in Current U.S. Economic Expansion: Chart

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks have risen more in the past eight years than in almost any other post-World War II time of economic growth, as defined by the National Bureau of Economic Research. The S&P 500 Index jumped 172 percent from July 2009, when the current expansion started, through Wednesday. The biggest advance was about 300 percent and occurred from April 1991 to March 2001, when Internet-related stocks soared. This comparison was originally made by James Picerno, editor of the Capitol Spectator blog, in a posting Thursday.