The S&P 500 index plunged into a bear market on July 9 2008 — more than 20 percent below its record high close of 1,565.15 points on Oct. 9, 2007 — after ceding to the pressure of a housing slump, a credit crisis, record-high oil prices and a weakening economy.

The S&P 500 was officially introduced in 1957 but its value has been extrapolated. Since 1929, whenever the index has fallen into a bear market, it has on average shed 29.4 percent of its value for the duration of the slump, which has averaged just over a year.

The S&P 500’s worst bear market occurred in the early years of the Great Depression and stretched from April 10, 1930, to June 1, 1932.

The following is a recap of the previous 10 bear markets for the S&P 500, using “The Stock Traders Almanac 2008″ data:

Asia cemented its status as the 21st Century workshop of the world by exporting the goods global consumers loved at prices that kept falling. Now it’s producing the one thing the world hates — inflation.

Higher prices from the world’s factory floor have major implications for a global economy still reeling from the credit crisis and increasingly dependent on Asian exports.

Read the full story by Kevin Plumberg

US Treasuries have outperformed corporates thanks to fears of a US recession and spreading fallout from the subprime mortgage crisis. Some money managers are looking for this trend to reverse soon as Treasuries look pricey and corporates appear overly beaten down.