Can you predict how long it will last this time?
Oh, say, until about June or July of 2013.
No, but the economic news of the last year did not support any kind of rally at least not a consumer based one. So if figured that some time after Christmas when retailers had another bad year that the market would make a big drop. By big drop I mean a drop of 10-15% many even back to 8,500 territory so I got out.
200 points is nothing to be concerned about unless this means a return to a bear market. Maybe yes maybe no but in the long run I just do not see how a bull market (adjusted for a falling dollar) can survive this horrible economy we got at the moment.