Nearly half of S&P stocks are entering a bear market - Reuters

As noted by Reuters, almost half of the equities that make of the Standard & Poors 500 index have entered bear market territory, flashing warning signs that the rest of the index could follow suit. More than 1,200 NYSE-listed equities ticked into 52-week lows on Monday, while the 52-week average of stocks bumping into yearly bottoms has reached its highest level since the outset of the 2008 financial crisis.

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The S&P 500 index has been in a correction since October, defined by many investors as a drop of 10 percent or more from a high. It has not crossed the 20 percent threshold, widely viewed as the definition of a bear market.

However, 245 stocks in the S&P 500 - 49 percent of its components - on Monday had fallen 20 percent or more from their 52-week highs. Another 127 S&P 500 stocks had fallen 10 percent or more from their 52-week highs, but less than 20 percent.