We are now down over 20% from the all-time high the S&P posted in January. That's after a week when traders tried to wrestle off a hungry bear, a week in which signs of an uptick proved unsustainable, a momentary lapse in the universe's judgment. At a more than 20% decline, we are indeed looking at a bear market, a market that has seen the S&P, the Dow, and the Nasdaq slide for seven grueling weeks in a row.
This Week, I expect a repeat of this week's rout, albeit with even lower indices on next Friday's close. The only question now is whether or not market sentiment will push indices higher on Monday and Tuesday from today's close in a collective effort to enable investors to get out of some positions at a less depressingly low share price. The push—should it even occur—will be short-lived. By Wednesday, all signs will point to a bad end of the week. And what if we see a market even lower on Monday? Then the inevitable additional decline of 10% to 15% over the next few months is moved back a bit, which may be a good thing. The more the market tries to stave off the bear, the more investors (myself included) are likely to enter some short-term trades in the hope of seeing a bit greener in their online portfolio.
