While history does repeat itself, the rerun is never identical.

That's why providing investors with a signal as to when and how current economic and market woes will end is an inexact science.

If historical precedents hold up, small-cap stocks buoyed by low interest rates will eventually lead a resurgence by the stock market. On their heels will be technology, retailing, and apparel stocks.

History also tells us that, rather than the gradual market recovery many pundits are predicting, a typical market resurgence after a deep decline is one of violent upward and downward bursts. It is no pleasure cruise, warn the market history buffs.

"It is very rare to have, as we do now, every single financial asset except for Treasuries and gold down so sharply at one time," says Jeffrey Kleintop, senior vice president and chief market strategist with LPL Financial, in Boston.

"For example, when the technology sector was down 80 percent in 2001 and 2002, the rest of the stock market did OK," Kleintop says.

Since 1950 there have been 11 bear markets, Kleintop says. Ten of them hit lows before rallying 10 percent to 20 percent and then falling back once again to retest their lows. It therefore is hardly surprising that the current market has a fallback propensity, he says.

Real estate and financial institution problems aren't new either.

"You need only go back to 1989 through 1992 to see the collapse of an overleveraged financial system that had been propping up the real estate market," says James Lowell, editor of the independent Fidelity Investor newsletter, in Watertown, Mass. "That was the savings and loan debacle, which provides a sliver of hope that our current chaos will also find its way to a solution."

From 1992 through 1999, an investor could buy most bank and pharmaceutical company stocks at low single-digit prices, Lowell says. Companies reluctant to hire workers because of the worrisome economy did, however, spend money on technology to boost production and efficiency. That boost to tech stocks should be repeated as we emerge from our current crisis, he says.

Markets never stay down forever, regardless of what government does or doesn't do. That's why unloading all your stocks is never a smart move. But the real question now is whether this market has hit bottom yet.

"I overlaid the six other market collapses of 40 percent or more since 1900 against our current market and found we're right at the point where four of them hit their bottom," says James Paulsen, chief investment strategist with Wells Capital Management, in Minneapolis. "And every one of those previous six declines, including two during the Great Depression, recovered in a violent manner."

For example, the stock market fell 90 percent to hit its low in the Depression year 1932 before rebounding with a 300 percent gain, Paulsen says.

Then, in 1937, the market fell 50 percent before recovering 75 percent of that loss within nine months of hitting the low.

"In the other collapses, all representing declines of about 50 percent, each of them fully recovered its entire loss within 18 months," Paulsen says. "If there's any sign of the economy bottoming out in late spring, those signs will cause a rally on Wall Street, and confidence on Main Street will improve."

It "defies logic" that a company such as General Electric Co. (GE) will be stuck at a single-digit price, since the global economy in which it operates is far more dynamic and interconnected than it was in the 1930s, Lowell says.

"This is not a time when investors want to bet on the second- and third-tier players in any industry because they just may not survive," Lowell says. "In fact, some first-tier players are dropping on this field."

Lowell's favorite portfolio manager to maneuver through this period is Joel Tillinghast, of Fidelity Low-Priced Stock Fund (FLPSX), whose charge is to buy stocks selling for $35 or less. He typically holds 800 or more stock names.

"In a bear market like today, Tillinghast can buy virtually anything," Lowell says. "His fund is chock-full of mid-, mega-, and small-cap names."

And then there are bonds. Traumatic stock periods historically prompt a shift of many stock investors into fixed-rate investments.

But when rates are unusually low, investors regain the courage to assume risk for return.

"We're seeing investors look to corporate bonds, with bond ETFs (exchange-traded funds) now one of the fastest-growing ETF categories," says Tom Anderson, head of ETF research for State Street Global Advisors, in Boston. "They're gaining popularity because they pay higher yields than Treasuries."

Anderson recommends SPDR Barclays Capital Intermediate Term Credit Bond ETF (ITR), a new fund whose underlying index includes bonds with maturities between one and 10 years. Another choice is the $3 billion iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (LQD), the largest ETF in that category. Average maturity of its bonds is seven years.

Even junk bonds, which are primary beneficiaries of market revivals, are drawing some attention.

"High-yield bond rate spreads are currently very high historically," says Anderson, who recommends SPDR Barclays Capital High Yield Bond ETF (JNK) in that group. "You're taking on more credit risk, but historically when spreads are very high as you enter a recovering economy, high-yield bonds tend to do very well."