10 Catalysts That Could Cause the Stock Market to Plunge (and 1 Big Reason to Stay Invested)
In case you missed it, the stock market celebrated the eighth anniversary of its bull market run in March. Since hitting its lows in March 2009, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Nasdaq Composite, and S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) have all galloped to new all-time highs and returned 227%, 387%, and 259%, respectively. Mind you, historically stocks return only 7% per year, inclusive of dividend reinvestment, suggesting that investors have really seen the market do something special over the past eight years.
However, we also know that stock market corrections and bear markets are a natural part of investing. Since 1950, according to data from Yardeni Research, there have been 35 stock market corrections of 10% or more, when rounded to the nearest whole number, in the S&P 500. Essentially, we're talking about a double-digit percentage drop in the broad-market index about every two years. Thus, it's not a matter of if this bull market rally is going to end, but when.
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Source: Fool.com
