The long-running bull market in U.S. stocks may be famously unloved but it won’t be unmourned when it finally goes to that great bovine graveyard in the sky.
A historic decline that’s seen equities tumble sharply since early October has already sent several major benchmarks, including the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite COMP, +3.11%[1] and the small-cap Russell 2000 RUT, +2.36%[2] into bear territory.
Mark Hulbert: This still looks like just a stock-market correction, not something worse[3]
What is a bear market? While some market arbiters declare a bear market based on intraday prices, Dow Jones Market Data holds that a bear market occurs when an asset closes 20% below its bull-market peak. Based on that criteria, the Dow Jones U.S. Total Market Index DWCF, +2.21%[4] and the Dow Jones Transportation Average are also in bear markets (see table below based on Monday’s closing price levels).
| Index | Recent High | 12/24 close | % off recent high | Level needed to enter correction | Level needed to enter bear market | % away from bear market |
| DJIA | 26828.39 | 21792.20 | -18.8% | 24145.55 | 21462.71 | -1.5% |
| S&P 500 | 2930.75 | 2351.10 | -19.8% | 2637.68 | 2344.60 | -0.3% |
| Nasdaq Composite | 8108.69 | 6192.92 | -23.6% | 7298.72 | 6487.75 | In Bear |
| Russell 2000 | 1740.75 | 1266.92 | -27.2% | 1566.68 | 1392.60 | In Bear |
| DJ U.S. TSM | 30390.61 | 24126.04 | -20.6% | 27351.55 | 24312.49 | In Bear |
| DJ Transports | 11570.84 | 8637.15 | -25.4% | 10413.76 | 9256.67 | In Bear |
Meanwhile, the worst Christmas Eve performance in Wall Street history left the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +2.08%[5] ...