The research below shows how the stock market has performed following a decline of greater than 6% in a single day (which we had yesterday). As you can see at the bottom, of the 15 times that this has happened, the market was higher 12 out of 15 times within a week and it was up 10 out of 15 times within a month of the decline. My point in posting this information is to show that while in the short term the market may (and does) scare us with massive selloffs like we've had over the past 11 days, stocks do eventually cover and make up the losses it sustains. The toughest part of the current environment is the volatility (extreme moves) up and down - today the market swung 600 points up and down to finish up almost 4%! My point in writing all of this is simply don't let a single day or a week determine your mood on the markets or the specific stocks you might own. Tomorrow morning I'll talk about the Federal Reserve meeting that was held today and what the Chairman said about the economy and the prospects for it going forward.
