Sanders is a quantitative strategist at Renaissance Technologies.

"The earnings side of the stock market is really starting to deteriorate rapidly," said Richard Bernstein, chief quantitative strategist at Merrill Lynch in New York.

Richard Bernstein, chief quantitative strategist at Merrill Lynch & Company, took some time last week to talk about his craft and where the market is, and is not, going.

The difference between quantitative strategists and traditional investment strategists is smaller.

A quantitative strategist has data and then looks for the economics that come out of that data.

I think quantitative strategists are a little more disciplined than traditional strategists, because we live and die by our models.

"Today surprised everybody," said Richard Bernstein, chief quantitative strategist at Merrill Lynch & Company.

Following McKinsey, Hinsdale then went to work as a quantitative strategist for Goldman Sachs from 1993 to 1995.

"To me, it's astounding," said Richard Bernstein, chief quantitative strategist for Merrill Lynch.

Richard Bernstein, chief quantitative strategist at Merrill Lynch, offered another reason for pessimism on both stocks and bonds.