"One other possible explanation: November 2007.
The excrement hits the ventilator in stages...at first people think they'll switch to something reliable (which goes up), then they realize they have to sell everything (so it goes down). Sometimes you get a third stage when the best stuff tanks the most because people sell what they can because there's a market for it, not what they want to. Just a thought!"

Exactly! I'm seeing all the usual "buy on the dips" and "you haven't lost anything if you haven't sold" knee jerk financial advice and while not selling at an inopportune time is certainly sound advice it doesn't mean that we are all ok just for holding. I fear an extended malaise in the market is a very real possibility. So while there may not be any crash indicators like the dot com bubble or the housing crisis in '06-'07 there is anything but clarity in financial markets right now.

This is not political but does anyone really see it getting any better? Is the president suddenly going to become less reactionary? We are only two months in to this administration, there's 46 more months to go! And I'll play devil's advocate- let's say the president's policies work and his trade war ends up bringing large scale manufacturing back to the states. How long would that take? You're looking at a 2-4 year window to start seeing fruits bare from that policy. Now, just for clarification, I personally do not see this happening and think this whole exercise is a lesson in taking a gun out and shooting yourself in the foot but even if the policy did work you're looking at a long time before there's any benefit. I also fear there will be a general decay around our goods and services due to the shine coming off our apple from the backlash of these policies around the world.

It kind of feels like an extended malaise!