With the market slumping to fresh 12-year lows in the last stretch of February, stocks will kick off the month of March on an increasingly uncertain footing while investors try to determine where the bottom lies for the economy and the bear market alike.
"The path to least resistance remains down," said Alec Young, market strategist at Standard & Poor's. "We need some real capitulation, and for people to stop buying the dips and let it crash. Then, we could get a new low."
Data on U.S. employment and nonfarm payrolls, due next Friday, might get the ball rolling.
"Everyone knows it's going to be bad," Young said. "But we need even the most bullish people to give up and [the jobs report] might be the catalyst."
February sees more record losses
Friday closed the chapter on the worst February since 1933, with the broad Standard & Poor 500 index (SPX) down 10.9% for the month. The S&P thus stands down 18.6% in the year to date, making for the worst first two months of a year on record.
On Friday, the S&P finished at 735, its worst level since December 1996, after U.S. gross domestic product in the fourth quarter was revised sharply down to negative 6.2%.
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