A new bear market in American shares

AMERICABEARSPNASDAQ’s season, when hikers are advised to stay on their trails and carry pepper spray, runs for two months from September. It has come early for investors. The &500 index of leading American stocks has fallen by 18% from its all-time high in January, ten percentage points of which was in the past month alone. The index is flirting with bear-market territory, a 20% decline. The , a tech-heavy benchmark, has plunged well past that level. Since November it has shed 29%.For 18 months or so, since inflation began to climb, investors have fretted over how much the Federal Reserve would tighten policy, and how that would be for asset prices. The latest , which followed a meeting of the Fed on May 4th at which America’s central bank raised rates by 0.5 percentage points, offers an answer: very painful.