Stock Slide: `Correction,' Or a Trend?; Some Analysts Foresee Long, Sustained Fall
With the stock market continuing to fall from its January peak, a growing number of Wall Street analysts are warning customers that a major correction, if not a long-term market decline, is underway.</br></br>Those who have joined the pessimists' camp say the reasons abound for their dim view of the market. They cite rising interest rates, inflationary expectations, a slowdown of mutual fund money pouring into stocks and worldwide political uncertainties ranging from the domestic Whitewater issue to the threat of trouble in Korea.</br></br>Since late January, when it neared the 4000 mark, the Dow Jones industrial average has fallen 216 points, or 5.4 percent, including 120 points last week and another 12 today {Details, Page D2}. Other indexes have fallen as well. The Nasdaq stock market index, which tracks smaller companies, is off about 4 percent.</br></br>Some analysts are hoping this is no more than a long-awaited correction, a short-term decline in an otherwise rising market that helps to keep speculative fervor in check.</br></br>But if this slide marks the start of a long, sustained decline in stock prices - a full-fledged bear market - it would be bad for the economy, for federal regulators and for President Clinton, who has largely enjoyed the benefits of rising stock prices.