The S&P stock market index dates back to 1926 when it was composed of just 90 companies. It became the S&P 500 in 1957 when it expanded to include 500 companies, and since then, it has delivered a positive annual return 87% of the time.

While losing years are rare, consecutive losing years are even rarer. The S&P 500 has only delivered back-to-back losses on two occasions: during the crippling oil shortage in 1973 and 1974 and during the dot-com tech bust from 2000 to 2002.

Therefore, when the index fell 18% last year, the odds of a bounce-back in 2023 were extremely high. True to form, the S&P 500 is up an impressive 21.5% this year so far.

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Source Fool.com