It turns out that trying to bottom out every time the stock market falls this year is more expensive than at any time since the 1970s.

Since 2022, the S & P 500 has fallen for an average of about two and a half days, the longest year since 1974, with a return of-0.2%, also the worst in nearly 50 years.

The bullish impulse of investors is disappearing. Investors were hit by a series of worrying developments in US stocks on Tuesday, including weak earnings guidance from industrial leader General Electric Co, a stronger dollar for a fourth consecutive day, and a lower-than-expected US Conference Board consumer confidence index in April. Disturbed by negative sentiment, the NASDAQ fell nearly 4%, hitting a 52-week low and stuck in a bear market; s & p and Dow both hit six-week lows.

Brian Donlin, equity derivatives strategist at Stifel, said: "this looks like a bear market. When it rebounded, the selling was strong, and the rebound was getting smaller and smaller. "

Big losses are a relatively new experience for US investors who are used to buying bargains. In the first four months of 2022, the S & P 500 fell to its lowest level for the year 17 times, the most since 1977. This is very different from the past decade. For all but one of the past decade, the S & P 500 has rebounded on average on the day after it fell.

Today's shift may be the result of a combination of factors, and the Fed is undoubtedly behind it. Since the financial crisis, the Fed has stepped in to rescue the market at almost every sign of trouble. However, the Fed's primary goal now is to curb stubbornly high inflation. The Fed raised interest rates by 25 basis points in March, the first time since 1994 that the Fed has begun a cycle of rate hikes within a month of a massive stock market sell-off.

As the Fed withdraws from quantitative easing and is prepared to take more aggressive measures to tighten monetary policy, the Fed has abandoned its role as a "bull market ally" to become the biggest "threat" to the stock market. As US bond yields rise, one of the big bullish reasons for stocks-that investors have no choice but to hold stocks-is in danger.

"the quantitative easing (QE) party is over and the era of quantitative tightening (QT) will begin soon," Goldman Sachs Group partner Tony Pasquariello said on Friday. We have clearly transitioned to a mechanism with a sharp rise in volatility. "

Sharp price fluctuations have become an iconic feature of the stock market in 2022. The s & p has fluctuated by at least 1 per cent in 86 per cent of trading days, according to data compiled by Strategas Securities, which is on track for its sharpest year since 2009.

This, coupled with persistent losses, seems to have finally had an impact on market sentiment. In the first quarter, investors accustomed to bargain buying were fleeing the stock market at their fastest pace since at least 2015. Nearly $26 billion has been withdrawn from equity exchange traded funds (ETF) this month, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

However, Bloomberg's Eric Balchunas also pointed out that some outflows of ETF, such as Vanguard's ETF (VOO.US) and iShares Core's ETF (IVV.US), may be tax-driven, while market sentiment may be the reason for outflows from financial selectors SPDR funds (XLF.US) and iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM.US).

At the same time, not everyone has abandoned this time-tested bargain-hunting strategy. JPMorgan Chase & Co's Marko Kolanovic, one of the most staunch bulls among Wall Street strategists, urged clients on Monday to increase their holdings, saying the market could rebound in the coming days and recover last week's losses.

While bulls may eventually make a profit in the long run, the market's inability to stop bleeding may make investors nervous. Investors have been hit by a long decline so far this year, with the S & P 500 falling for four consecutive sessions, and if the decline continues, it will be the worst year since 1984.

Peter Chatwell, head of asset strategy at Mizuho, said: "there is no doubt that the feeling of the market has changed. In the current stock market, it is more profitable to sell every strong. "We expect the bear market to continue into the second quarter, and only when inflation risks show substantial signs of peaking will this turn into a moderate risk rebound in the second quarter. "