Bear Market

NEW YORK -- Stocks plunged Thursday in the worst one-day drop in more than two years, as investors absorbed fears that the American economy could ente...

NEW YORK (Edward Krudy) - The S&P 500 turned negative for the year on Tuesday as the wrangling over the U.S. debt ceiling faded and investors turn...

Despite the temptation to oversimplify a complicated world by being a bull or bear, we are sticking with the mixed bag theme. In an economy full of both positive and negative events, there is no other logical conclusion.

The Dow zoomed 5.3% or 511.55 points in four consecutive winning sessions, in the process racking up its best week of the year. Was the giant gain a fluke or the start of something big?

How is our stock market recovery doing relative to others in history? Not well. Most normal bear markets would have long since recovered and gone on to new highs.

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A month ago, with the market charging ever higher, climbing the "wall of worry," most bearish voices had been silenced. Now they're back with a vengeance.

Last Thursday's nearly 1,000-point decline in the Dow Industrial during the trading session was no illusion. More frightening, as Florida investment adviser Harry Dent, Jr., sees it, that day's bloodbath is "a sign of things to come."

Rallies cannot continue forever unchecked. Though recovery rallies tend to last a year or two, at some point they falter into one large step backwards, usually half as ugly as the prior decline.

The bull-bear debate rages on, but no two ways about it: the bull has firmly grabbed the Wall Street reins. The bears are still out there hollering fire, but the fact of life is no one is paying any attention to the dire warnings.

There's no way to really understand the meaning of the investment mantra "stocks for the long run," unless you understand how long the long run can really be. And how long can it be? Long.

Real worry has a very short half-life on Wall Street of say three to six months. After every giant decline, there's an enormous rebound and the thing for investors to keep in mind is that we're still in one.

People are starting to draw comparisons to 1983, the second-year of an amazing 18-year bull market that took the Dow up 10-fold. Could they possibly be right?

"I knew that I would do something that was important. I always wanted to have power, in order to motivate others to reach their goals," says Harris.

There are rumors going around Wall Street that Nouriel Roubini has actually been on the long side of the market (betting it would rise) throughout his bearish tirade.

Verne Kabbel is a super contrary indicator. He has periodically e-mailed me over the past five years and as a forecaster on the direction of the market, he's infallible; I've never known the man to be right.

The bottom line from Chinese bulls: As far as putting your money to work in risky China goes, this could be the year the pig outshines the bull and the bear.

According to a trio of incisive trackers of the economic and investment scene, there are several ticking fiscal time bombs -- inconspicuous, and so far ignored -- that are waiting to explode.

If an investor is the patient type, typically their portfolio will get back to break-even in a little more than 5 years after the bear market is over.

David Tice, running counter to the Wall Street herd, thought the bulls were out of their minds and he predicted that all hell would soon break loose, with both the economy and the stock market going into a tailspin.

How does the current bear compare with previous bear markets? Since 1950, the bottoming process has ranged from around six weeks to eight months. We'r...

The bear phases of these markets lasted from 3-30 months (we're currently in month 17). The drop from 1929-1932 was also about 30 months.

Doug Short has taken a detailed look at the 10 bear markets and bear-market-recoveries since 1950. You can click through a slideshow showing each of ...