Guzzo the Contrarian

How does one really determine whether or not we’ve actually entered a bear market?

There isn’t really a universally agreed-upon definition of a bear market, but there are “generally” accepted measures that are often used to describe one.

Here are some measures sometimes mentioned:

1. The traditional definition of a 20% drop from recent highs.
2. When at least 80% of all stock prices fall over an extended period.
3. Widespread economic consumer pessimism and negative sentiment.
4. Quickly rising commodity prices and falling investor confidence.
5. A significant rise in the number of new 52-week lows.

But, the one gauge that I find indicative that we’ve truly entered a bear market is when Barron’s starts offering free access to their online content.

Seems like we’ve finally reached that point.

Barron’s Cover: The Bear’s Back