The S&P 500 just recorded a dubious milestone: the broad-market benchmark has put in its longest run in correction territory since May 1, 2008, according to WSJ Market Data Group.

The S&P 500 index SPX, +1.05% has been in correction territory, defined as a decline of at least 10% from a recent peak, for 57 trading sessions, including Tuesday, when the benchmark index fell 0.7%.

The S&P 500 slipped into correction territory on Feb. 8, along with the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.51% , and remains there because it hasn’t set a new high above its record set Jan. 26. MarketWatch explains here why an asset doesn’t flip in and out of correction territory and must exceed its previous apex in order to exit the correction phase.

As of Tuesday, the S&P 500 index is off about 8.5% from its recent peak, while the Dow is 10.4% shy of its late-January record, and the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, +1.71% is off 7.7% from its recent record, put in on March 12. The Nasdaq is not in correction territory. While it fell more than 10% from its peak on an intraday basis, it hasn’t closed below that level.

Since 1950, the average correction has run about 61 trading days, according to WSJ MDG, while the past five corrections have run about 37 trading sessions.

In another discouraging stat, the S&P has gone 65 sessions — including Tuesday — since its most recent record close. That’s the longest streak since a 68-session stretch that ended in November 2016. The Dow is also on its 65th trading day without a record close, its longest drought since a lengthy stretch that stretched from May 20, 2015 until July 11, 2016.

This is in sharp contrast to the nearly uninterrupted move higher seen over 2017, when the Dow closed at a record in a record number of sessions

The time in correction territory is indicative of a market that has remain stubbornly rangebound for weeks, something analysts have begun to cite as a concern for markets. Should the “sideways” market action continue, that could set the S&P 500 up for a “death cross,” or an ominous chart pattern where the 50-day moving average of a security drops below the 200-day average. This is widely seen as a bearish indicator that can signal weakening trends, and point to deeper losses ahead, though like any indicator it isn’t infallible.

There may still be hope that the S&P 500, and the broader market, claws its way from out of the doldrums, according to Jeffrey Kleintop, the chief global investment strategist at Charles Schwab & Co. Corrections, on average, run about 13 weeks. So far, the current phase is running around 11 weeks. However, markets just entered the month of May, which is historically a weak one for stocks, particularly in midterm years, as 2018 is.

Goldman Sachs places a typical correction length at around 70 trading days to trough and 88 trading days to recovery, reviewing 36 corrections in the S&P 500 since World War II, MarketWatch’s Ryan Vlastelica writes.

Similar to the start of this corrective episode for the equity market, Wall Street has been wrestling with the prospect of rising borrowing costs hamstringing corporate growth and richer yields, detracting from gangbuster appetite for stocks. On Monday, the 10-year benchmark Treasury TMUBMUSD10Y, 0.680% flirted with eclipsing at a psychologically important level at 3%.

Read: Stock investors are freaking out about bonds ending a 3 decadelong bull run—but should they be?

—Ken Jimenez contributed to this article