Welcome to a "legitimate" bear market...

In a legitimate bear market in stocks, two things happen: 

1) Stocks are decimated... to the point at which 
2) No sector is spared.

But as far as this particularly gruesome bear market is concerned, there is some good news...

1) Stocks have ALREADY been decimated (the S&P 500 has fallen over 20% from its 2007 high)... and 2) every single sector has ALREADY been dragged down.

So we're at least partway through this bear market now... It's more likely we're even farther along.

And when you're done with a legitimate bear market, you're left with bothextraordinary values and a general public that is absolutely disgusted with investing. This means we've got companies so cheap, they're trading at multi-decade lows (or below their liquidation values)... And investors who are convinced they'll never make money in the bear market.

Also, we're seeing a general public that's frozen into inactivity. Unfortunately, we haven't yet reached the typical levels of investor disgust you'll see at the bottoms of bear markets...We're already seeing extraordinary values. Some of the best companies in the world are trading for less than 10 years worth of profits. Unfortunately, value isn't a good "timing" indicator of when to buy. So if you're buying on value alone, you can get seriously burned.

For example, people still think they could make money in real estate by buying now... even though the economics make no sense. But since they haven't given up yet, they're not fully disgusted. So we haven't hit the bottom.

The best indicator of the end of a bear market is the trend. Unfortunately, the downtrend has not yet reversed. Trends are still down everywhere – in sectors and in countries. Legitimate bear markets are ruthless.

For a quick way to scan the major stock markets, commodities, currencies, and more, we've put together our DailyWealth Market Window. As you "flip" through the charts of the world's stock markets, you'll see no place has been spared. Each country is in a severe downtrend.

Legitimate bear markets wreak catastrophic devastation. But they also create once-in-decade opportunities. We've already reached the point where stocks are a better value today than at any time in the last 10 years.

We're just not there yet.A huge amount of damage has already been done. So at this point, I think we're closer to the start of something great, rather than on the brink of much more pain.

I promise, I'll let you know when I believe that time is here. You won't want to miss it...

Good investing,

Steve