A primary trend has broad support throughout the entire market (most sectors) and lasts for a year or more. Bull market A 1901 cartoon depicting financier J. P. Morgan as a bull with eager investors A bull market is a period of generally rising prices. The start of a bull market is marked by widespread pessimism. This point is when the "crowd" is the most "bearish".[5] The feeling of despondency changes to hope, "optimism", and eventually euphoria. This is often leading the economic cycle, for example in a full recession, or earlier. Examples India's Bombay Stock Exchange Index, SENSEX, was in a bull market trend for about five years from April 2003 to January 2008 as it increased from 2,900 points to 21,000 points. Notable bull markets marked the 1925-1929, 1953--1957 and the 1993-1997 periods when the U.S. and many other stock markets rose; while the first period ended abruptly with the start of the Great Depression the end of the later time periods were mostly periods of soft landing, which became large bear markets. (see: Recession of 1960-61 and the dot-com bubble in 2000-01) Bear market A bear market is a general decline in the stock market over a period of time.[6] It is a transition from high investor optimism to widespread investor fear and pessimism. According to The Vanguard Group, "While there's no agreed-upon definition of a bear market, one generally accepted measure is a price decline of 20% or more over at least a two-month period."[7] Examples A bear market followed the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and erased 89% (from 386 to 40) of the Dow Jones Industrial Average's market capitalization by July 1932, marking the start of the Great Depression. After regaining nearly 50% of its losses, a longer bear market from 1937 to 1942 occurred in which the market was again cut in half. Another long-term bear market occurred from about 1973 to 1982, encompassing the 1970s energy crisis and the high unemployment of the early 1980s. Yet another bear market occurred between March 2000 and October 2002. The most recent examples occurred between October 2007 and March 2009, as a result of the financial crisis of 2007--08. Market top A market top (or market high) is usually not a dramatic event. The market has simply reached the highest point that it will, for some time (usually a few years). It is retroactively defined as market participants are not aware of it as it happens. A decline then follows, usually gradually at first and later with more rapidity. William J. O'Neil and company report that since the 1950s a market top is characterized by three to five distribution days in a major market index occurring within a relatively short period of time. Distribution is a decline in price with higher volume than the preceding session. Examples The peak of the dot-com bubble (as measured by the NASDAQ-100) occurred on March 24, 2000. The index closed at 4,704.73 and has not since returned to that level. The Nasdaq peaked at 5,132.50 and the S&P; 500 at 1525.20. A recent peak for the broad U.S. market was October 9, 2007. The S&P; 500 index closed at 1,565 and the Nasdaq at 2861.50. Market bottom A market bottom is a trend reversal, the end of a market downturn, and precedes the beginning of an upward moving trend (bull market). It is very difficult to identify a bottom (referred to by investors as "bottom picking") while it is occurring. The upturn following a decline is often short-lived and prices might resume their decline. This would bring a loss for the investor who purchased stock(s) during a misperceived or "false" market bottom. Baron Rothschild is said to have advised that the best time to buy is when there is "blood in the streets", i.e., when the markets have fallen drastically and investor sentiment is extremely negative.[8] Examples Some examples of market bottoms, in terms of the closing values of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) include: The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a bottom at 1738.74 on 19 October 1987, as a result of the decline from 2722.41 on 25 August 1987. This day was called Black Monday (chart[9]). A bottom of 7286.27 was reached on the DJIA on 9 October 2002 as a result of the decline from 11722.98 on 14 January 2000. This included an intermediate bottom of 8235.81 on 21 September 2001 (a 14% change from 10 September) which led to an intermediate top of 10635.25 on 19 March 2002 (chart[10]). The "tech-heavy" Nasdaq fell a more precipitous 79% from its 5132 peak (10 March 2000) to its 1108 bottom (10 October 2002). A bottom of 6,440.08 (DJIA) on 9 March 2009 was reached after a decline associated with the subprime mortgage crisis starting at 14164.41 on 9 October 2007 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_trend

• published: 23 Aug 2014
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