S&P 500 Shows Pattern Similar to Start of Last Two Bear Markets
- The index's 12-month average has fallen for two months
- Declines of that length have occurred only twice since 1995
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A pattern that accompanied the start of the last two bear markets is showing up in U.S. stocks.
Driven by a retreat since mid-August, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index has seen its average price over 12 months fall for two straight months, data compiled by Bloomberg and MKM Partners LLC show. In the past two decades, declines in the average measure lasting two months or longer had only occurred twice, in the dot-com crash and the 2007-2009 bear market.