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Strategies & Market Trends : Gorilla and King Portfolio Candidates -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Uncle Frank who wrote (53350)	1/1/2003 10:52:23 AM
From: Eric L	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 54805

re: The Year That Was ... ... such as it was. >> Wall St. Ends Third Losing Year In A Row Hope Yen AP Finance News 01/01/2003 Wall Street posted a third straight disappointing year in 2002 as corporate misdeeds, terrorism and fears of war made investors skittish about putting money into stocks. The Dow Jones industrials finished the year at 8,341.63 - down 16.8 percent. In percentage terms, it was the Dow's worst year since 1977. Similar carnage was seen in the Standard & Poor's 500 and the technology-heavy Nasdaq. "It's been a terrible year, particularly on top of 2000 and 2001 being down years. It's really unprecedented territory," said Mike Kayes, chief investment officer at Eastover Capital in Charlotte, N.C. Both the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 suffered their first three-year declines since 1939-41. The Nasdaq posted its first three-year loss since the exchange's inception in 1971. Wall Street usually sees strong gains during the last two weeks of December on hopes for a better new year. But the market instead went into a slide in the last days of the month amid worries about rising oil prices and mounting tensions with Iraq and North Korea. Indeed, the Nasdaq finished its worst December ever, with a 9.7 percent drop, while the Dow and S&P 500 had their poorest December since 1931, with declines of 6.2 percent and 6 percent, respectively. For 2002, the Nasdaq dropped about 31.5 percent and the S&P declined 23.4 percent. A disappointing report on consumer confidence Tuesday further dampened the mood. The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index dropped to 80.3 from 84.9 in November. Analysts expected a December reading of 88.0. "Investors are closing this year in much of the same mood they endured the last 12 months, one of discouragement and concern about factors that are way beyond our control," said Charles G. Crane, strategist for Victory SBSF Capital Management. Eastover's Kayes said, "Investors have been hurt by the combination of accounting scandals, the lingering effects of the war on terrorism and the lack of market leadership. It just takes a long time for things to unravel after the really historic bull market run of the 1990s." << Happy New Year, - Eric -