Then I wanted to go into those mini bulls and bears and further isolate and examine what they look like, with the idea being: Let me take a look at how these mini bulls and bears look in these secular bear markets, and kind of try to figure out what the most likely scenario is for the market here going forward.

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The truth is that the real damage to confidence comes not from a one-day fall, as in October 1987, but from a multi-year bear market of the kind we could be entering today.

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But its key short-term rating seems safe for now, an indication that the firm is in no imminent danger of the kind of credit run that brought down Bear Stearns.

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After a recession-induced big bear market and partial recovery over the next 21 months, stocks encountered an entirely new kind of trouble in 1939.

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"He was actually kind of scared of it, " said Mr Harrison, who took the bear to a sanctuary in Colorado.

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