Odds of a bear market rising in US; earnings reports unlikely to lift spirits

IT SEEMED that things couldn't get much worse on the US stock and commodities markets - until they did.

While stocks could bounce this week, the odds of a bear market are rising and earnings reports from banks and industrial companies are unlikely to lift dour investor spirits for long.

Both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Standard & Poor's 500 entered official correction territory last week, a week that was bookended by two of the biggest sell-offs in the latest downturns. On Friday, oil futures closed below US$30 a barrel - which had been the last redoubt for the bulls on oil for months - for the first time in more than 12 years.