The S&P 500 Index entered into a bear-market territory on Wednesday — defined as a 20 percent drop from a recent market high — wrote Brian Levitt, global market strategist, North America, at Invesco Real Estate, in his blog post on March 12. It was the first time U.S. stocks had done so in 11 years.
Levitt noted: “Most investors, by now, have seen the research demonstrating that missing the best 10 days in the market over a 20-year period would cut their returns in half while missing the best 30 days would actually lead to negative long-term cumulative return. Alas, most promoters of that research fail to communicate the most important points: 1) Fully half of the market’s best days in history have happened during bear markets and, 2) Another 30 percent of the market’s best days have happened in the first two months of a recovery. In short, timing the market is o
