The fear that the US is headed towards a recession over its subprime meltdown mess caused the stock markets in Asia to plummet today. The US Stock markets are closed today to celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday, but the S&P futures market was open and it continued to plunge to enter into official bear market territors, down 21% from the peak, earlier today.
Charts at a Glance - Daily
Charts at a Glance - 5 days
Charts at a Glance - 1 yr
India's Mumbai index set a record with a 7.4% plunge.
The markets in Singapore, Hong Kong and mainland China all saw 5% or more declines on the day.
Based on the sell-off in the S&P500 Futures Market, the S&P500 is currently in "bear market status"
- (1597-1261)/1597 = 21.04% A bear
Hang in there. This only goes to show why experts say "nobody can time the markets" so the best way to hadle market volatility is with a diversified portfolio of equities and fixed income such as I recommend in "Kirk's Investment Newsletter."