What Kills Bull Markets
The current bull market is the longest in history, but it has had some scrapes along the way. Some, such as the August 2015 "flash crash" in exchange-traded funds, were mere flesh wounds. Others, such as the late-2018 sell-off driven by concerns over rising interest rates and a U.S. trade war with China, drew serious blood. Standard & Poor's 500-stock index slid 19.3%--just a hair above bear-market territory (generally defined as a 20% decline from a market's peak).
"If it bleeds, we can kill it," Arnold Schwarzenegger once noted. Okay, that's not accepted Wall Street wisdom, it's a line from the movie but the point stands. The bull market is mortal. Just
