After the Nasdaq's seven bear markets dating to the record 1973-74 decline, for example, it took 24 months on average for the index to return to its previous high, InvesTech says. If last Friday really was the bottom, as some analysts say, it would be next March before the Nasdaq sees 5048 again. But that's based on the average Nasdaq bear. After an earthquake like this one, the market will need time to repair itself. Hoping battered techs will re-emerge as market leaders, many tech investors who made big bucks on the way up have refused to move on despite suffering steep, sometimes catastrophic, losses.
Brokers drop coverage.
The whole thing just shuts down. The problem is, there's no guarantee techs will ever return to the boom times of the '90s. Worse yet, tech giants that were leaders in the 1990s bull market might even be the most dangerous investments. Earnings growth, the fuel of the '90s bull run, is slowing for many of the biggest tech companies, a trend that may not reverse itself no matter how robust the next economic boom, Cliggott says. Slower growth translates into lower valuations and lower stock prices.