Traders on the floor of the NYSE, May 13, 2022.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Anxiety and trauma sufferers are sometimes asked to define a hierarchy of fears that trigger distress so they might be managed.
An anxious Wall Street faces a litany of fears right now that have shadowed the broad market on its way to a near-20% decline into Thursday’s urgent sell-off and remain after Friday’s strong and perhaps overdue 2.4% bounce.
Nasdaq Y2K Crash Rerun?
Of course, the crucial real-world economic swing factor is whether the ongoing inflation, consumer malaise and financial-condition tightening represent the overture to a recession in coming quarters.
But from an investor’s perspective, given the damage already done and the drivers of index performance and paper wealth, the top-ranked fear is that the Nasdaq tailspin is following the script from the post-peak bear market of 2000-2002.
Without having foretold the kind of rapid selling storm of recent months, I’ve noted…
