The title probable sums up the state of the local and US markets the last couple of months. Most of the people i've talked to just don't know what this market is going to do in the short term and therefore makes it very difficult for traders to make any money.

For the short term traders, there is nothing to be happy about with this type of market especially with the US in a recession. One might wonder as to what to do with the current state of our markets. Well to borrow the advice from our friends here in financemanila, the best advice to take is to sit and just wait. Unless you are good at business valuations and are planning to position for the long long term, this type of market is nothing to cheer about.

Although I am pretty sure that there are a few people out there who are very happy with the declining share prices, this market will prove to be a huge challenge for even the value investors to make any money in the near term. Though the index has fallen quite a bit in the last few trading days, there really aren't any fantastic bargains in the market to position in. It is still best to sit and wait for further declines before value/long term investors add to current positions and/or enter into new ones.

If you are wondering what type of market we are in, my personal opinion is that with the welcoming of the new year, we have also finally welcomed the bear market. Sit back and relax because this might be a long wait.