The bull market is over – we're in a bear market now

It's taken the devastating combination of an escalating sovereign debt crisis in Europe, revolution across the Arab world and one of the most horrific natural disasters in modern history to finally take this two-year bull market down, but take it down it has. Until mid-afternoon yesterday, when we saw some welcome respite, this week has seen nothing but inexorable, across-the-board selling. It's felt like 2008 all over again. It doesn't matter what you own, quality or not, everything has been sold. The baby has been thrown out with the bathwater. Panic has set in. This is one of those times, if ever there was one, to 'keep your head when all about you are losing theirs'. So let's take a step back and think…