Reuters reported that while this past quarter was miserable for bullish US stock investors, the bad news is that things may get worse before they get better.

The S&P 500 fell about 14% n the third quarter losing about USD 1.7 trillion in market cap as the US economy struggled and a resolution to Europe's sovereign debt woes proved elusive. The quarter was the S&P's weakest since the fourth quarter of 2008, the peak of the financial crisis.

Many analysts say persistent uncertainty overshadows any near term value created by share price declines.

Mr Jerry Harris president of asset management at Sterne Agee at Birmingham in Alabama said “I don't see great opportunities and wouldn't encourage aggressiveness until we see some stabilization in Europe, China and here. We may be approaching that point, but it's too early to have a lot of conviction and there's not much potential for prices until we start getting better economic numbers.”

According to a recent Reuters poll, the S&P is seen ending 2011 at 1,250, which would represent a gain from current levels but would still be slightly in the red for 2011.

(Sourced from Reuters)