Stocks post big gain for week but face big drop for year

US stocks were little changed on Friday, leaving the S&P 500 up 2.8 percent for the week, its best gain since the week ended 20 November.

The STOXX Europe 600 finished the week up 4.5 percent for its best weekly gain since 23 January while the Nikkei 225 rose 6.8 percent for its best week since the end of October 2014.

“You had a big drop, now you had some stabilization, and everyone’s waiting to see which way it’s going to go,” said Jesse Lubarsky, equity trader at Raymond James.

Mark D. Cook, who runs The Mark D. Cook Advisory Service for investors and traders, thinks that it is going down.

“A 30% slide for U.S. stocks in 2016 could be more likely than ever,” he wrote in a MarketWatch article.

He said that the market looks “alarmingly similar to 1987, 2000, and 2008”. He added: “Each of these bear-market years resulted in declines in excess of 35%.”