Stocks Exact Harsh Toll on Would-Be Market Timers
- Extreme market breadth occurs at a rate not seen in decades
- Debate heats up on whether Fed cycle offers clues on bear run
A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
Photographer: Michael Nagle/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Bull or bear, in stocks lately, the punishment has been the same. Swift and brutal.
Lockstep moves, one day up and the next down, have been sweeping through the market like storms, as paranoia over inflation alternates with optimism the economy can weather it. Tuesday’s swing, in which more than 400 companies of the S&P 500 moved in the same direction, is a pattern that has repeated 79 times in 2022, a rate that if sustained would top any year since at least 1997.