Yes, if the S&P 500 closes below 3838, which is 20% down from its all-time high of 4797 on Jan 3, then we're in a bear market. I can't say "official" bear market, as there is no "official", but by very widespread consensus.
"3838" is easy to remember -- Munich, Neville Chamberlain and "peace in our time" was in 1938
so think "Munich Munich".
If the S&P 500 closes below "Munich Munich", then we're in "bear bear".
Fortunately, there's always refuge in bonds. From today's market outlook/summary --
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/inflation-puts-pressure-on-powell-what-to-know-this-week-162615319.html
The U.S. 10-Year Treasury note is having its worst year on record, losing 12.8% so far, per data from Compound Advisors. The yield on the 10-year has more than doubled in 2022, from 1.52% at the start of the year to 3.16% as of Friday's close.
Well, guess not. That's a lot of decline for an intermediate bond (I think of 10 years as intermediate, maybe that's not the consensus).
Or take an intermediate term corporate bond fund like Vanguard's VICSX
The year-to-date total return (including dividend payments) is, coincidentally down 12.8% as of Friday close
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/VICSX/profile?p=VICSX
(the adjusted close column adjusts the price for distributions, so that's the one to use for total return calculations)
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