Clif Droke | May 02, 2013 07:51AM ET
Bull and bear markets don’t just happen – they’re created by the Federal Reserve. While few investors dispute the power that Fed interest rate policy has on the market, the extent to which it influences the direction of stock prices in both directions is often downplayed. Moreover, the health of the economy is often decided by the Fed’s interest rate policy.
While it’s no secret that loose monetary policy on the Fed’s part benefits stocks and can lead to credit bubbles, researchers tend to underestimate the effect tight money policy has in creating market crashes and economic recessions. Restrictive money policy on the Fed’s part has frequently led to falling stock prices. The extent and duration of the monetary tightness is what determines the severity of the bear market. The longer the Fed restricts money, the more severe the downturn will be.
Consider the bear market of 1973-74. The Dow Jones Industrial Average experienced a decline of 40 percent, which at the time was the worst bear market since the Great Depression. The Dow peaked in early 1973 at an all-time high of 1150 before commencing a Chinese water torture type decline for the next two years. The decline was precipitated by tight money on the part of the Fed, which began raising interest rates in early 1972.
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