February 27, 2018 | Is Anyone Ready for a Bear Market?

From a technical standpoint, the S&Ps and the Dow rolled down from interesting places on Tuesday. The Indoos sputtered out precisely at the Hidden Pivot midpoint of a long-term pattern projecting above 28,000 mentioned here earlier. For their part, the E-Mini S&Ps died 20 points shy of a rally target that had looked like a lock-up. Taken together these things make me, if not bearish, then certainly cautious. Like just about everyone else who follows the markets, when I greet the new day, I take it as a given that the Dow will levitate at least 150-200 points. This expectation has become so ingrained in me that mental warning bells have begun to sound.  Few are prepared for the economic disaster that a bear market would bring. Goldman Sachs says that 4.5% on the Ten-Year Note would probably pull stocks down by 25%, but that the economy would slog through it. My gut feeling is that 4.5% on the Ten-Year would bring the Dow down by more than half just for starters and that the economy would look like a statistical war zone. Is anyone really ready for this, even those of us who have been bearish since…forever?

Rick Ackerman February 27th, 2018

Posted In: Rick's Picks

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