Mark Hulbert: Inflation can fall for months, even years, before stocks begin to rise and this bear market ends

Stock market bulls confidently predict that the U.S. market will rally the instant the Federal Reserve pauses in its battle against inflation.

Yet it hasn’t always worked out that way. A review of past cycles of inflation, interest rates and the U.S. stock market reveals that there can be a considerable lag between peak inflation, peak interest rates, and the stock market’s low. And by “considerable” I mean months, if not years.

Consider…