Dow Industrials 1982 - 2009

Technically, 7,470 in the DJIA (Dow Jones Industrial Average) is the 50% retracement level of the entire bull market that began in August 1982. The previous bear market bottom was on Oct 9, 2002 when the DOW was at 7,286. We’ve gone below that level and at 7,100, we not only cut in half the October 2007 highs of 14,198.50, but we have given back 50% of the 27 year move from the start of the big bull market of the 1980s to yesterday.
If you invested in 1982 and just bought and held securities, then you’ve lost 50% of the gains that you had for retirement during that time. And at the current level (Tuesday’s close) of 6,726.02, there is no support for a long ways.
The market still has a way to go until we reach the single digit PE ratios that usually happen at the end of a bear market. John Williams, the economists who writes the Shadow Stats newsletter, thinks that the DOW could fall another 70% from these levels. He might be right but that will probably be in the third downleg of this secular bear market