It may not feel like it, but Don Coxe, chairman and chief strategist of Harris Investment Management Inc., argues that we are still in the midst of a bull market. He made his remarks at the Investment Dealers Association annual conference in La Malbaie, Que., yesterday.

Contrary to popular opinion, said Coxe, the market has not turned bearish. But the huge rise and fall of tech stocks has only made it seem as if the market has gone
from boom to bust.

Coxe says that the tech stocks are in the midst of a “triple waterfall” play. The first stage was the emergence of consensus that the tech stocks are the way to go. That was followed by a boundless optimism, that foresees the party going on forever. The culmination is a climactic plunge.

This current tech stock waterfall has yet to finish its plunge, he said. Coxe forecasts that the NASDAQ composite index will have to break 1,500 and head lower before it’s truly over. Once it is finally over, Coxe said a triple waterfall market will not revert to a bull market. Ultimately, he said, after a long period of consolidation, a sector that has been through the triple waterfall will climb higher. He pointed to Japan and the energy sector as examples.

For advisors, Coxe says there’s no sense trying to “recapture the rapture.” But he says there is great opportunity to work with investors who’ve been swept into the market through the euphoria of the rise and fall of the triple waterfall.

The democratization of market information has been a good thing, he said, but now that investors have a little knowledge, there is an opportunity to impart lots of knowledge and keep them in the market.