Wall St Week Ahead-Signs of market bottom elude investors after steep selloff

NEW YORK: Investors are studying an array of indicators for clues on how much further a brutal slide in U.S. stocks could run, with some signs suggesting the tumble in equities may not be over.

The S&P 500 .SPX extended its decline to nearly 20% from January’s record peak on Thursday before an end-of-week bounce, approaching the cusp of a bear market amid concerns that persistently high inflation will prompt more aggressive Federal Reserve interest rate increases that could undermine the economy. Declines have been even steeper in the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite .IXIC, which is down 24.5% year-to-date.