How should investors feel about last week’s big market moves?

Did you catch last week’s big moves after the inflation report?

• The Nasdaq jumped 7.4% — the index’s 14th largest one-day move in history.
• The S&P 500 jumped 5.5% — the 18th time the index has been up over 5% since 2000.

Is the pain finally over? Is the S&P 500 back to new highs? Did the recession get canceled?

Let’s set expectations straight. Big moves are part of bear markets — and don’t necessarily signal the end of a downturn.

In the past, the majority of these big moves did, in fact, take place during a bear market. Some near the end of the downturn.

We get it; you’re exhausted from the whipsawing market. So are we. We had a major bear market rally in the summer — just for the market to break new lows.

We’re likely in for a big move in December. Whether the Fed raises rates by 0.50 or 0.75 percentage points next month, markets could see major moves in either direction.

The Average Joe: “Doesn’t matter whether I bought right at the bottom or a couple of months near the bottom. What matters is that I bought.”