Last week served as a necessary reminder that volatility is inescapable on Wall Street. Over the past three weeks, the ageless Dow Jones Industrial Average, broad-based S 500, and growth-fueled Nasdaq Composite have all retraced at least 5% from their respective record-closing highs.

Although red arrows can be unnerving, especially for newer investors, notable downdrafts in the major stock indexes have historically served as buying opportunities for patient investors. While we'll never know ahead of time when downturns will begin or how long they'll last, history teaches that every decline is eventually wiped away by a bull market rally. Buying high-quality stocks and holding them over an extended period tends to be a winning formula.

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Source Fool.com