The start of hasn't been pleasant for investors.

List of largest daily changes in the Dow Jones Industrial Average - Wikipedia

Fears of a weakening global economy and turmoil in Chinese markets have led stock markets around the world to nosedive. Such declines can be painful, and it may feel like it's inevitable that markets will continue to head downward.

Historic Stock Market Crashes, Bubbles & Financial Crises |

But history suggests that investors who bail on the stock market at this point are likely making a mistake. As we've noted in the past , when viewed in a broader historical context these kinds of declines aren't too unusual.

It happened 4 months ago. It happened in , in , and numerous times during the financial crisis.

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It happened in , multiple times in , and multiple times in The list goes on and on. Sometimes these rapid market meltdowns herald more losses to come.

The US stock market fell dramatically in January , for example, and the pain continued the rest of that year.

But many other times the market bounces back.

Plunging markets in early and early both were followed by massive gains years in the subsequent years. More often than not when the market suffers such acute declines, it recovers fairly quickly.

Of course averages don't tell us what's going to happen in any specific situation. It's certainly possible that this year could end up more closely resembling the financial devastation of than the vigorous rebounds of or But if history is any guide, selling stocks for fear of further losses is more likely to be a mistake than a wise decision.

What History Tells Us About Stock Market Declines Jan.

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