2017 chart of the stock market looks ‘eerily similar’ to 87

The S&P 500’s daily price chart this year looks “eerily” like that of 1987, but that’s about the only similarity between the market then and now, one of Wall Street’s longtime market strategists pointed out.

“Indeed, when comparing the daily index levels for the S&P 500 in 1987 with the progression thus far in 2017, they appear to follow an eerily similar path,” Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research, said in a note to clients Wednesday.

Source: CFRA Research

“However, when the S&P 500 is viewed on a daily year-to-date price-performance perspective, 2017’s relatively placid advance looks more like a long-term moving average than it does a mirror reflection of the surging/crashing action during 1987,” Stovall said.

The S&P 500 has had a stellar year thus far, rising 14 percent to record highs. Investors have piled into stocks on growing hopes of U.S. corporate tax reform, an improving economic landscape and strong earnings growth.

However, the S&P 500’s seemingly unstoppable climb has rekindled memories of the infamous Oct. 19, 1987, market crash. On that day — which is known on Wall Street as “Black Monday” — the S&P plunged 20.5 percent, marking the biggest single-day drop in U.S. stock market history.