The internet is awash today with reports that oil has entered a bear market! What??
David Haggish on this site proclaims "Oil today plunged quickly below $40 per barrel, taking oil prices down more than 20% from their high a little over a month ago. That officially defines a bear market in oil." ~ Slippery Oil Prices Plunge Over Cliff into Bear Market
Oil Sinks Into Bear Market as U.S. Stocks Drop; Treasuries Fall ~ Bloomberg
U.S. Oil Prices Enter Bear Market - Wall Street Journal ...
Defining a 20% rise or fall as entering a bull market is a definition devised, likely by CNBC, as a way to simplify reporting and keep every sound bite to less than a few seconds. There never has been an official percent that defines a bull or bear market.
Oil entered a bear market in 2008, had a recovery rally through to 2014, and has continued its bear market since. It is not a series of bull and bear markets as reporters would like us to think.
Oil is down 70+% since 2008 -- that is a bear market.
Putting bull and bear market labels on these moves is a disservice and could possibly convince a naive investor into a bad move.
