Sometimes one chart says it all. Here is a chart of the S&P 500 (a broadly based measure of the U.S. stock market) in a ratio with total consumer credit, courtesy of frequent contributor Chartist Friend from Pittsburgh. Charted against consumer credit, the S&P 500 (SPX) collapsed after the 2000 dot-com bubble burst and has been tracing out a descending channel since then. Chartist Friend explains: A funny thing happens when you price the stock market in something other than itself, say gold or the PPI or in this case Total Consumer Credit Outstanding. You wind up with a depiction of the market that is ... (full story)