Some experts view the struggle as simply a generational barrier.
But others say it's something more serious. More importantly, Hays said, the median loss of all stocks has been 22 percent since the market carved out a top last April. The Dow's failure to hold 10,000 is sending muddled messages to investors. The more the excess on the upside, the more damage it will have to sustain to undo the exaggeration. The major market indices have been flying into the record books this year because of good corporate earnings, particularly by technology companies.