CHICAGO – The bear market that is ravaging investor portfolios is now one of the worst in modern U.S. history and has wiped out more than $7 trillion in shareholder value, with no bottom clearly in sight.

When it stops and how far it drops, no one can predict with any accuracy — a painful uncertainty underscored by Wall Street’s giddy mood at the moment the steep descent began.

A year ago Thursday, Wall Street was celebrating the fifth anniversary of a bull market that had created $10 trillion in shareholder wealth since 2002. The Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index hit all-time highs on Oct. 9, 2007.

No bottom to stock market clearly in sight – Stocks & economy- msnbc.com.