Technical update The first big test of the bear market rally looks to have arrived. Despite the recent "golden cross" signal that I mentioned a little while ago, the chart of the S and P 500 index has retraced its steps all the way back down through the 200-day moving average and although it now looks a little oversold, we can only wait to see if it can find fresh support around that level. Don't bank on it, given this week's dramatic events.

The problems of Silicon Valley Bank, the Californian bank which has been taken over by regulators after failing to raise new equity to shore up its bala...