The market isn't pulling back to "realistic" values, but retreating as credit tightens more and more. The market was not overvalued, per se, but it will continue to contract as long as investors fear business will falter as banks tighten the credit flow to the very businesses your investment dollars fund. As credit loosens, the market will slowly start to rebound as investors gain confidence in the "normality" of business operations. It's more a chain reaction affect. After all, would you want to invest money in a company if you had doubts that the company could fund its operations? Hell no, I wouldn't! But the reality right now is that businesses are still functioning in most cases, just as before, especially small businesses. That market psychology will artificailly inflate/deflate share prices despite the performance of the companies involved.