Stocks may struggle to beat autumn blues

"Are the troubles behind us? No," said Al Goldman, chief market strategist at Wachovia Securities in St. Louis. "But I think we're in the process of bottoming. Investors are trying to look beyond the valley of myriad problems to better times ahead."

And while noting that September and October are usually weak months for Wall Street, Delta Global Advisors' technical analyst Bruce Zaro said he is hoping that the sharp selling that led to the mid-July lows may have flushed out the excesses ahead of time.

Even so, said Alan Lancz, president of Alan B. Lancz & Associates in Toledo, Ohio, those looking for a clear end to the bear market and a multi-month rally may be getting ahead of themselves.

"Too many people think it's a V-shaped situation, where you hit rock bottom and then everything is suddenly great," he said. "I think there are more hurdles to come. The bottoming process takes time."