Comments on: Dow Jones Charts – October 10, 2008

By: Alex Fotopoulos

Alex Fotopoulos — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 23:17:20 +0000

I’d love a sideways market for a few years. It’ll help shake out the “investors” looking for easy money and will allow me to sell puts without missing out on big upside gains.

By: Ruben

Ruben — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 16:47:58 +0000

I think it is possible and even good if stock are going trade sideways-down for few years. These artificially inflated valuations are not good for the economy, unless if you don’t care about the next generation.

By: Alex Fotopoulos

Alex Fotopoulos — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 14:32:53 +0000

Assuming you are correct, we might be very close to the market bottom now. I have no argument against that from a fundamental view. From a technical view, I still want to see a retest of the lows.

By: Enough Wealth

Enough Wealth — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 11:39:56 +0000

I don’t think that “the percentage might revert to the norm from the GDP’s side rather than from the market cap’s side” since GDP is only likely to drop fractionally in a recession. Even in a severe recession GDP only contracts a few % over a year or two – not enough to significantly boost the ratio of market cap to GDP.

By: Alex Fotopoulos

Alex Fotopoulos — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 10:54:03 +0000

It all depends on which article you read along with the starting date.
- http://www.fool.com/dripport/2002/dripport020725.htm says 10 months.
- http://www.usnews.com/articles/business/economy/2008/01/22/is-a-bear-market-next.html – says 1.3 years since 1926.
Notice the starting date in my note was 1940 but the USNews article was 1926.

By: Stocks Simplified

Stocks Simplified — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 04:13:36 +0000

Interesting Stuff. I was under the impression the average bears market lasted 18 months. But it doesn’t really matter too much. Good luck!