CNN’s latest “Fear and Greed Index,” which offers insight into the emotions driving the stock market, shows fear is currently driving investor sentiment. In the days leading up to the midterm elections, the metric was in the “extreme fear” range.

Although markets reacted positively to the midterm results, one elephant in the room is still fears of a potential bear market in the near future. Those fears have lingered much of this year, as investors worry about a potential AI bubble and ongoing geopolitical events, but they’ve intensified after the S&P 500 (^GSPC +2.35%) and Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC +2.74%) finished October in the negative.

Only time will tell when a bear market happens, but history has consistently taught one lesson:…