Please click the link below to view Shane Oliver's views on the state of the Australian share market.

Key points covered are :

• Historically bear markets in Australia have seen an average fall of 33% over 18 months.
• However this masks a huge range.  65% of bear markets have seen gains over the 12 months following an initial 20% decline in share prices.
• Factors involved in whether bear markets are mild or deep include whether there is a recession, whether earnings slump and whether the market was overvalued or not prior to the start of the bear market.
• Our view remains that a recession is unlikely, that earnings growth will be soft but is not about to implode and valuations are not stretched.