These bears, of the stock market pessimist variety, helped the story of 2000 become a sorry tale for shareholders.
So what twists does the 2001 chapter of the global economic saga hold?
Analysts worldwide see the plot revolving around the performance of the US economy, the world's largest, which finance chiefs have been attempting to bring to a 'soft landing' after a record-breaking period of growth.
US economy
Worried about the build up of inflation, the US Federal Reserve raised interest rates six times between June 1999 and May 2000.
But the Fed now faces demands for interest rate cuts, after economic growth fell to the equivalent of 2.7% a year over the summer, less than half the rate of expansion recorded at the same time in 1999.
It was the expectation of rate cuts which helped suppress negative, or 'bearish', sentiment on US markets during the last days of December, helping the broad-ranging Standard & Poor 500 shares index recover considerable ground to end 'just' 10.1% down over the year.
The key question is whether the cuts in interest rates will prevent the US slipping into recession.
A benchmark report released by University College Los Angeles on 12 December predicted a 60% chance of the US suffering a mild recession in the second or third quarters of the year.
And even if economic contraction is avoided "we're hearing that the first six-to-nine months of the year will be difficult", Harvey Rowan, of Starmont Asset Management, told Bizjournals.com.
Billionaire investor George Soros was even more pessimistic at the start of the new year, saying US authorities were powerless to prevent a slump.
"I believe the (US landing) will be bouncy and hard," he told Chilean newspaper El Mercurio.
US stockmarket
Nonetheless, investors remain positive about prospects for US equities, with analysts surveyed by Bloomberg predicting an average 21% increase in the S&P 500 index of shares on New York Stock Exchange this year.
Analysts believe the slowdown has already been factored in to stock prices, with shares in many blue chips, such as Microsoft and IBM, trading at levels not seen since 1999 or earlier.
"The stock market is about as undervalued as I've seen for quite some time," said Hugh Johnson, chief investment strategist for First Albany Corp.
Optimism is also supported by historical trends - the S&P 500 has risen by an average of 31% following previous Fed turnarounds in interest rate policy, analysts at investment bank Lehman Brothers said.
And the rolling out of the tax cutting package espoused by George W Bush, the US president elect, will further boost sentiment, Banc One Investment Advisors said.
Mr Johnson said: "It will be a good year for stocks. But you're going to need to be good at timing.
"I think it will be weaker in the first half and stronger in the second half."
Global stockmarkets
This trend is also likely to dominate the agenda outside the US.
As Bank of England governor Sir Edward George reminded investors, in economic terms when the US sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold.
Source: The Independent and Financial Times
Mr Soros said developing countries would be the worst hit by the fall-out from the US slowdown as cash flows from industrial nations dry up.
But their stock markets would not suffer to the same degree as they did during the 1997-98 'Asian crisis', which turned into a very global affair.
"The markets are already down, which means you cannot have a crash after a crash," Mr Soros said.
In Europe, the consensus forecast is for economic growth to hit about 3% this year, with the UK, achieving expansion of 2.6% over the year.
Nonetheless, pundits believe continuing UK growth will translate into a remarkable turnaround in the performance of leading shares, which fell 10% last year.
All City analysts surveyed by The Independent newspaper predicted the benchmark FTSE 100 index of leading shares would rise this year.
Source: The Independent and Financial Times
In a Financial Times survey, only one analyst forecast a decline.
Steve Russell, economist at HSBC, which forecast a 14% rise in the benchmark FTSE 100 share index, said: "As the year progresses, lower interest rates and recovery will gradually take over as the key themes.
"Equities should recover strongly, leaving the UK firmly in positive territory for the year."
For Europe as a whole, analysts in the FT survey forecast rises of about 10% in the prices of shares in leading Continental firms.
Japanese equities will also prove buoyant, taking the Nikkei 225 index, which ended 2000 at 13,785.7, to about 16,000, most of the analysts predicted.
Imagination
The trouble for investors will be, as ever, to sort out reliable predictions from those a little long on fantasy.
Like fairy stories, forecasts rely on a degree of imagination and invention.
But the financial world can never guarantee a happy ending.