Global stocks in bear market amid rebound in bearish sentiment

Markets fell on Thursday, turning the global stock market rout into a bear market.

The S&P 500 fell 1.2 percent despite a late-session rally. The decline helped push the MSCI All-Country World Index into a bear market, the latter hitting a 20 percent loss from a record reached in May.

US 10-year Treasury yields fell for the sixth consecutive day to hit 1.66 percent.

US crude plunged 4.5 percent to its lowest level since 2003.

As global markets weakened, the Japanese currency strengthened. The yen rose for the fourth consecutive day on Thursday to hit its strongest level since November 2014.

Thursday's bearish trading action coincided with the release of a report from the American Association of Individual Investors showing that pessimism among individual US investors rebounded to nearly 50 percent in the latest AAII Sentiment Survey while optimism fell below 20 percent for the second time this year.