Bear At the Door or Already Here
Despite the nearly 300 point upsurge in the Dow today, with major stock index averages already significantly down and many investors suffering already, the arguments of the bears appear to have held sway in the market’s debate. The major averages have seen falloffs of around 15% in the Dow, a similar plunge in the S & P 500, and the NASDAQ has followed this pattern as well in the last 52 weeks. Professional investors usually consider a bear market to occur at a 15%-20% decline from the year’s highs. With last year’s development of the subprime mortgage lending excesses, along…