The Fastest-Ever Bear Market Leaves Stock Traders No Road Map
Investors prepare for the worst.
A pedestrian walks toward an entrance to the Wall Street subway station near the New York Stock Exchange.
Photographer: John Taggart/Bloomberg
Welcome to the fastest-ever bear market. It broke out smack at a market top, something that almost never happens. As shocking as the 2008 financial crisis and crash of 1987 obviously were, both followed months of downward drift—though that was only visible in retrospect.
In just four weeks, U.S. stocks have already completed the 30% plunge that matches the median loss of the last 10 bear markets. The median time it took the earlier episodes to lumber to the bottom? One and a half years. Now that they’ve woken up, investors are preparing for the worst. Recession fears are running high, and traders are slamming the sell button. “It’s bad,” says Jeffrey Kleintop, chief global investment strategist for Charles Schwab & Co., “but too early to tell the size.”