The Stock Market Has Turned Nasty. It Was Long Overdue.<br />There are few indications so far that trading losses in those instruments — or in the battered cryptocurrency<br />markets — have damaged the overall financial system, but that is a worry in a serious downturn.<br />Well, now the ax has fallen and the stock market has begun a “correction” — financial jargon for a decline of at least 10 percent.<br />Last summer, when stock valuations seemed too rich, I followed my own advice<br />and began to rebalance my 401(k) portfolio, reducing the ballooning proportion of stock, increasing short-term bonds and cash.<br />Recall that in June 2016, after British voters said they wanted to leave the European<br />Union, the stock markets fell into what seemed, at the time, to be a major panic.<br />Mr. Mehta’s view, which I share, is that a stock market decline of the kind we have been experiencing was overdue<br />and that there is probably even greater volatility ahead.
