The Economics Journal

Here is a list of 10 things marketwatch considers to be the signal of a bottom. It is an interesting reading, though I don’t accept all their conclusions.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Analysts-devise-list-10-signals/story.aspx?guid=%7B80474254%2D89F7%2D4859%2D80CC%2D9A9D807C28C8%7D

1. A significant (more than 10%) one- or two-day drop in the market.

2. Timothy Geithner is replaced with Paul Volcker.

3. The 100th day of a bankruptcy by General Motors Corp.

4. Gold at $2,000 an ounce.

5. The Dow Jones Industrial Average changes more than two names at the same time, and/or adds names to increase the overall number of stocks in the index.

6. New York Stock Exchange daily volume drops to 1 billion shares for 30 sessions in a row. "Sometimes you just need everyone to give up to make a bottom," the analysts reasoned.

7. One million jobs lost in a month.

8. The market starts to rally on bad news.

9. Stock market favorites see 15% to 20% declines. When standout companies — such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc.) — "get clobbered" you’ll know a bottom is near, they said.

10. CNBC goes off the air.