Stock Market Keeps Falling and Falling

All U.S. stock market indices fell again today. The Dow is now well below 7,000, down more than 50% off its all time high. Lots of "smart" talking heads on TV are wondering about how low it can go.

Let's look back to 1929. The chart to the right shows that after hitting a peak on Sept 3, 1929, the stock market did not bottom out until June 1932, some 30 months later. When the carnage stopped, the S&P was off by more than -80%.

How low will the stock market go this time around? We're about 17 months into this bear or down market (peak in October, 9 2007) so we may not know for some time to come.

[Chart: NYT.com]