Stock Market: We Are Probably In A Bear Market Right Now

The Dow Jones Industrials Index ended another down week on a down note dropping 390 points. The Nasdaq Composite was down as well, down 126 points. Of course at one point the Nasdaq Composite was down almost 190 points and the Dow Jones Industrials was down 530 points but we still finished off a pretty bad week extending the rout. This is the worst January in the history of the stock market.

The Dow Jones Industrials is now off 13 percent from its highs, the Nasdaq Composite about 15 percent from its highs so firmly in correction territory, that is what Wall Street calls a decline of 10 percent or more. When it hits a decline of 20 percent they call it a bear market.

We are probably in a bear market right now because ultimately those indexes will be down 20 percent so we are just early in the bear market. The Dow Jones Transportation Index is down 27 percent from its highs, that is a bear market, the Russell 2000 Index is down about 23 percent, so bear market territory there. And of course there are many sectors that are in a bear market.

Peter Schiff is an American businessman, investment broker and financial commentator. Schiff is the CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital Inc.