What's at work?
For starters, the market has been rising at a completely unsustainable rate, driven by low interest rates, stock buybacks, high corporate profits, and investor expectations of even dizzier heights. At some point, it had to come down to earth, even with the pro-corporate tax-cuts.
In addition, the declining unemployment rate has been translating into (modest, long-overdue) increases in workers' wages. This tends to spook markets, not just because bosses don't like giving workers pay increases (true, but oversimplified), but also because central bankers tend to worry excessively about inflation.
If low unemployment causes workers to command higher pay, and employers don't take the cost out of profits but pass it along in the form of higher prices, inflation ensues. Projected inflation rates are still very low by historical standards—with global trade, weakened unions, and the gig economy, workers just don't have that much bargaining power, even at 4 percent unemployment rates.
Even so, investors correctly worry that myopic central bankers will tighten money at the slightest sign of inflation. And tighter money means slower growth and higher returns in the bond market, both of which are bad for stocks. So investors, having enjoyed average gains of more than 20 percent over the past year, head for the exits.
So, is this the big one: the end of a steadily rising bull market in stocks that is now in its ninth year, the second-longest one on record? (If I knew the answer to that, I would not be writing this post; I'd be in the south of France.)
Whether this is a momentary glitch, or the beginning of a long-awaited “correction” in stock prices of 20 percent or more, depends on whether most investors decide to be prudent rather than greedy, or whether a majority of investors think the market will keep going up.
But one thing is clear. Central bankers have an unfortunate habit of needlessly choking off recoveries due to excess inflation phobia. If investors expect central banks to run true to form, the market is likely to keep declining and the great, post-collapse bull market could be over.