Bear markets offer opportunities for investors

Article Excerpt

The traditional bear market threshold is a 20% drop from a market peak. And although, in our view, looking at past market movements is no guide to what happens next, it’s interesting to note that stocks have always bounced back from market downturns. 12 bear markets in 70 years for the S&P 500 A variety of factors cause markets to fall, and the main cause is not always clear, except in hindsight. In 2020, the rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic caused investors to sell many stocks. Rising prices of oil and other commodities, rising interest rates, a war in Ukraine, and fears of a global economic recession helped drive markets lower in 2022. The table below indicates declines in the S&P 500 Index of 20% or more over the past 70 years. Including the 2022 downturn, there were only 12 such occasions where the market dropped by more than 20% before it resumed its longer-term upward trend. On average, the decline was 34%,…