The U.S. stock market had another volatile session on Monday, with the Dow and S&P 500 closing lower while the Nasdaq Composite made a late push to finish up 0.4%
The decline for the Dow and S&P 500 cut into Friday's rally and ended February on a sour note for Wall Street. The S&P 500 finished the month down more than 3%. Despite widespread selling and negative readings on investor sentiment, it isn't clear if the market has found a bottom.
"In the last 25 years the only time we can find where the SPX had a -10% decline without at least one 90% downside volume day was in the fall of 1999. While it's possible we have seen 'the' low for the market, it's more probable that we have only seen 'a' low," BTIG's Jonathan Krinsky said in a note.
To be sure, not every Wall Street pro thinks the market still has further to fall. Fundstrat's Tom Lee said Monday that the new sanctions on Russia over the weekend raised the odds that a bottom was in for the first half of the year. JPMorgan's Marko Kolanovic argued the same in a note on Monday afternoon.
One factor outside of Russia that could determine the next steps for markets is the Federal Reserve, which is expected to begin hiking interest rates in March. Investors could get more clarity on that process this week, with Fed Chair Jerome Powell set to testify in Congress this week and another jobs report slated for Friday.
