Nasdaq now a bear market

NEW YORK -- The powers behind Nasdaq's five-year bull market proved to be the ones that drove it into its grave Wednesday.

Steep declines in some of the best-known technology names, including Apple, Google, Amazon and Research in Motion, helped push the Nasdaq Composite Index into a bear market.

The Nasdaq ended Wednesday's session some 20.3 percent below its October closing highs, signaling that a bull market run that had begun in October 2002 is officially over.

The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones industrials have also had a tough start to the year, but they are not yet within the bear's grasp. The S&P 500 is down 15.25 percent from its October peak and the Dow is down 14 percent from its October closing high.

Bear markets are generally defined as a prolonged decline in asset prices. In stocks, most chartists mark the onset of a bear market with a 20 percent decline from a 52-week peak.

The so-called four horsemen of the Nasdaq that led the index in the last stages of the bull market, are now playing a big part in its descent into the rough and tumble of the bear market cycle.

The sell-off in big tech names continued after the closing bell on Wednesday, as network equipment maker Cisco Systems Inc said it sees U.S. and European customers being increasingly cautious.

Cisco, seen as a bellwether, fell 6.8 percent to $21.50 in after-hours trade, dragging other technology companies -- such as Intel, Apple and Oracle Corp with it.