THE MARKETS
A hypothetical Doctor of Investments might say we are in an "EKG
market."
We've experienced a series of headlines that have sent the
market on a yo-yo ride since we dropped the New Year's ball in
Times Square six months ago. Here are a few of the eye-raising
events that have kept investors on an emotional rollercoaster:
- The S&P 500 index rose 15.2% between February 8 and April
23, according to data from Yahoo! Finance. Unfortunately, investor
sentiment quickly turned and the index declined 13.7% between April
23 and June 7, according to data from Yahoo! Finance.
- On May 6, the "flash crash" sent the Dow Jones Industrial
Average to an intra-day loss of nearly 1,000 points before making a
massive recovery to end the day down "only" 348 points, according
to Portfolio.com. At one point during the day, the Dow dropped 481
points in 6 minutes and then jumped 502 points just 10 minutes
later.
- An April 20 explosion on a drilling rig sent as much as 60,000
barrels of oil a day flowing into the Gulf of Mexico making it the
worst oil spill in American history, according to The New York
Times on June 18.
- A sovereign debt crisis in Europe sent shivers through world
markets and led the European Union to unveil a nearly $1 trillion
loan package designed to backstop weak countries from defaulting,
according to The Wall Street Journal on May 10.
- Gold prices hit an all-time high of $1,258 per ounce on June
18, "fueled by sovereign risk in the euro zone, historically low
interest rates, and concern over the stability of paper
currencies," according to CNBC on June 18.
Pop quiz time. After all these headline-grabbing events, in
percentage terms, how much do you think the S&P 500 index has
gone up or down since the end of last year? Brace yourself. The
index has risen a whopping 0.2% between December 31, 2009 and last
Friday.
The up-down EKG between the bulls and the bears has, like the
U.S. versus Slovenia in the World Cup, ended in a draw. However,
unlike the U.S. versus Slovenia, we still have six months left in
this year to see who wins the yearly "Investment Cup."
|
Data as of 3/12/10
|
1-Week
|
Y-T-D
|
1-Year
|
3-Year
|
5-Year
|
10-Year
|
|
Standard & Poor's 500
(Domestic Stocks)
|
2.4%
|
0.2%
|
21.3%
|
-10.0%
|
-1.7%
|
-2.8%
|
|
DJ Global ex US
(Foreign Stocks)
|
4.0
|
-6.8
|
16.1
|
-11.4
|
2.2
|
0.5
|
|
10-year Treasury Note
(Yield Only)
|
3.2
|
N/A
|
3.8
|
5.1
|
4.1
|
6.0
|
|
Gold
(per ounce)
|
3.0
|
13.8
|
33.5
|
24.2
|
23.4
|
16.0
|
|
DJ-UBS Commodity Index
|
2.7
|
-7.7
|
1.7
|
-10.0
|
-4.5
|
2.2
|
|
DJ Equity All REIT TR Index
|
2.4
|
15.1
|
70.3
|
-7.1
|
2.0
|
11.0
|
| Notes: S&P 500, DJ Global ex US, Gold, DJ-UBS
Commodity Index returns exclude reinvested dividends (gold does not
pay a dividend) and the three-, five-, and 10-year returns are
annualized; the DJ Equity All REIT TR Index does include reinvested
dividends and the three-, five-, and 10-year returns are
annualized; and the 10-year Treasury Note is simply the yield at
the close of the day on each of the historical time
periods.Sources: Yahoo! Finance, Barron's, djindexes.com, London
Bullion Market Association.Past performance is no guarantee of
future results. Indices are unmanaged and cannot be invested into
directly. N/A means not applicable or not available. |
HELEN REDDY PROCLAIMED, "I am woman, hear me
roar. In numbers too big to ignore," back in the early 1970s.
Today, those words are coming true in education, the workplace, and
on Wall Street.
In an article titled, "The End of Men" in the July/August 2010
issue of Atlantic Magazine, author Hanna Rosin reported
some little known statistics about how far women have come in
today's society. How many of these were you aware of?
- As of earlier this year, women now outnumber men in the U.S.
workforce for the first time ever.
- Even though women outnumber men in the workforce,
three-quarters of the jobs lost in this recession were lost by
men.
- Thirteen of the 15 job categories projected to grow the fastest
over the next decade are staffed primarily by women.
- Women now hold more than 50% of managerial and professional
jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
- According to Rosin, women now earn 60% of master's degrees,
about 60% of all bachelor's degrees, about half of all law and
medical degrees, and 42% of all MBAs.
- A 2008 study by researchers at Columbia Business School and the
University of Maryland looked at the top 1,500 U.S. companies from
1992 to 2006 and discovered that firms that had women in top
positions performed better.
The rising level of women's educational attainment and workplace
prominence will have a profound impact on the business and
investment spheres in the years to come. As part of our "find a
trend and throw yourself in front of it" philosophy, we will
continue to monitor this long-term trend and the ensuing investment
implications.
For your convenience the sources
have been listed below:
www.portfolio.com/business-news/2010/05/06/nowhere-to-hide-as...
topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/o/oil_spills/gul...
online.wsj.com/article/SB100014240527487036747045752338912...
www.cnbc.com/id/37768097
soccernet.espn.go.com/world-cup/story/_/id/5304289/ce/us/fifa-ax-u...
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/07/the-end-of-men/8135
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_Woman
nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d09/tables/dt09_268.asp
thinkexist.com/quotation/i_shut_my_eyes_in_order_to_see/218611.html
