NEW YORK, Dec 4 Reuters The bull is nearly loose.

The SP 50039;s feverish lateyear rally has brought the index to its highest level of 2023, leaving it just 4.2 away from the alltime peak reached in January 2022.

A close above 4,796.56 on the SP 500 would confirm that the index has been in a bull market since bottoming out on Oct. 12, 2022, by one commonly used definition. The benchmark index is up 19.7 for the year and has risen 28.5 from its October 2022 low.

A look at bull markets of the past suggests that investors should expect stocks to take a breather before marching higher.

At the same time, plenty of obstacles remain for U.S. stocks, including the possibility that the Feds rate hikes chill the economy, upending the softlanding hopes that have propelled equities higher.

SMALLER THAN YOUR AVERAGE BEAR

With the SP 500 closing at a new yearhigh on Friday investors are close to getting confirmation that the bear market that started in January 2022 is over.

Some investors define a bear market specifically as a decline of at least 20 in a stock or index from its previous peak. By that definition, the bear market that began when the SP 500 hit its previous record on Jan. 3, 2022 was not particularly painful.

The SP 500 closed down 25.4 at its lowest point, making this the fourth shallowest bear market experienced by the index since 1928, according to data from Yardeni Research.

At the same time, at 282 calendar days, it was somewhat shorter than the average bear…