The stock market is mildly lower ahead of the FOMC decision as markets adjust after some disappointing earnings, including Apple.
European stocks are mixed or near flat except a 1.3% decline in Italy as banking worries spread.
A Reuters story looks at the FTSEuroFirst 300 index and their analysis "shows there have been five previous bear markets since the index of leading European shares was launched in 1997, averaging 11 months' duration and with a peak-to-trough fall of 42 percent.
It took an average of 35 months once the cycle started to revisit the previous high, although the market has still not reached its all-time peak, hit in September 2000. The current bear market is nine months old and the index is down 24 percent."
Here is a look at global stock market performance today and over the past six months: