MICHEL PIREU: Global quarterly declines prick investors’ confidence bubble
As Jim Cramer warned on the Mad Money show on Thursday: "If you want to stick with this market, make sure you can handle the volatility." This was the quarter when investors were reminded that stocks don’t go up forever. Some of the optimism that has carried the US market higher and higher ended in the last three months. It was a turbulent quarter that featured two 1,000-point Dow plunges, powerful rallies as well as a growing sense of fear among investors. Despite a 309-point jump on Thursday, the Dow posted a quarterly decline of more than 2.3%, breaking the longest streak of quarterly gains since 1997. The S&P 500 suffered a 1.2% quarterly fall, ending its longest such stretch since the first quarter of 2015. The Nasdaq advanced 2% over the quarter, but the tech world, supposedly a reliable source of strength, also faltered. Things were so placid in 2017 that it’s come as a bit of a shock; something of a wake-up call. Wall Street started the year with a boom, as the Dow crossed 2...
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