S&P 500 could slump over 20 percent throughout this year

Charts: S&P May Fall to 600 as Bottom Fails

By: CNBC.com | 23 Feb 2009 | 06:14 AM ET

The S&P 500 could slump over 20 percent throughout this year and into the next as the index fails to form a firm base at current levels, Robin Griffiths from Cazenove Capital told CNBC Monday.

The S&P, [.SPX  743.33    -26.72  (-3.47%)   ] which closed at 770 points Friday, could fall to around 600 points, according to Griffiths, but a timeframe is difficult to predict.

“It’s going to go there and in terms of where the final low might be, probably not even this year,” he said.

“It now doesn’t look like an ultimate bottom pattern. The only low left below us now is the November low,” said Griffiths. “Last week it broke down below some important support levels,” he added.

If the S&P surpasses the lows of last year it would be “very, very rare” and be more in-keeping with a depression than a recession, Griffiths said.

The overall economy is way off its lows, according to Griffiths, and will bottom “somewhere between 2010 and 2012, but not in 2009.” 

SOURCE: http://www.cnbc.com