It could be another volatile day on the Toronto Stock Exchange after the market officially entered bear market territory on Tuesday.

For a market to reach the ‘bear' designation it must lose 20 per cent of its peak value, and remain there for some time, said BNN's Michael Kane.

"Typically the marketplace or the street thinks the markets must stay down, and as a matter of fact several indexes, not just one, must stay down 20 per cent for a couple of months before you're in a bear market, historically speaking," Kane told CTV's Canada AM.

The TSX peaked in the spring around early April, and has been up and down ever since. About $500 billion worth of stock value has been wiped out on the Canadian market since the peak, largely due to fears about European and U.S. debt troubles.

Almost $250 million of the $500 million lost has evaporated in the past month alone.

The markets plunged during the day on both Bay Street and Wall Street on Tuesday, but then climbed back up in the last 40 minutes of trading before the closing bell. The jump came as word emerged that European governments were planning to bail out some of the continent's struggling banks.

The S and P/TSX composite index came back from a 404-point drop to close down 74 points at 11,178.

The Dow Jones was down more than 200 points but then gained 153 points.

The volatile ups and downs have analysts increasingly worried about the prospect of another recession.

As stock values drop, traders typically sell their shares as prospects for future growth erode. When that happens, companies are usually forced to cut costs by announcing layoffs or shutting down production -- which contributes to the likelihood of a recession.

Canadians' investment plans and retirement funds also suffer, as equity investments or mutual funds take a hit.

James Marple, a senior economist with TD Bank, said the current problems are driven largely by the ongoing debt turbulence in Greece. He said the storm is growing.

"The problem is Greece is probably containable if you could keep it to Greece, but as we've seen it doesn't stay in Greece it goes to the periphery countries and even now to the core European countries of Italy and even France is of some concern," Marple told Canada AM.

"They haven't been able to fence it to Greece and it's gotten to the point we've got to deal with these losses and brace for impact."