The Conservative Portfolio climbed 1.27% in January.
2009 is starting off even worse than 2008. In January, the S&P 500 fell by 8.41%, with a similar drop in the Dow of 8.65%. Small cap stocks fared even worse with an 11.12% slide in the Russell 2000 Index, which measures smaller cap stocks. Even the mighty long-term government bond slid a sharp 8.5%, ending last year’s meteoric run. Tech stocks were relatively strong with a 6.3% drop in the Nasdaq and a mild 2.29% drop in the larger cap-oriented Nasdaq 100.
Foreign stocks fared slightly worse than U.S, indexes though some emerging markets were relatively strong after a big beating in 2008. The real trouble was (once again) in financials, notably banks, where the typical bank stock was down some 30% for the month. REITs, or real estate investment trusts, where down almost 20% in January as well, as the real estate bubble just keeps on deflating, wiping out all leveraged players in its wake.
Government spending and support of the collapsing economy has gone into overdrive and can now only be measured in the trillions. Apparently we will find out once and for all if a depression can be prevented by massive government spending. Many major banks’ futures are uncertain at best. Without bailout money, most of the top ten banks would surely have already failed. Why all these bankers didn’t see the trouble brewing in real estate remains a mystery. Surely some deserve to lose their banks, and their jobs. One problem is that for every $1 in government spending the fear factor of an economy in peril is causing perhaps another $1 to not get spent as consumers panic about the future. Investors are just as scared; favoring cash over stocks at levels we’ve never seen. We’d like to see one more large drop and will consider shifting more to stocks on it.
On the positive note, our average portfolio was down 2.39% or less than half the S&P 500’s drop in January 2009…
Nakoma Absolute Return (NARFX) delivered a positive return of 1.5% in a bad month for stocks, a nice showing and more of what we want to see. While we were glad this fund didn’t tank like 95% of the other funds out there, we still weren’t that impressed with the -4.34% return in 2008 – though this return beats almost all stock funds and some bond funds in 2008.
Janus Global Research (JARFX) had another good month relative to the market with a 6.27% drop, helping make up for a bad return during the market’s worst months last year.
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The Conservative Portfolio climbed 1.27% in January.
2009 is starting off even worse than 2008. In January, the S&P 500 fell by 8.41%, with a similar drop in the Dow of 8.65%. Small cap stocks fared even worse with an 11.12% slide in the Russell 2000 Index, which measures smaller cap stocks. Even the mighty long-term government bond slid a sharp 8.5%, ending last year’s meteoric run. Tech stocks were relatively strong with a 6.3% drop in the Nasdaq and a mild 2.29% drop in the larger cap-oriented Nasdaq 100.
Foreign stocks fared slightly worse than U.S, indexes though some emerging markets were relatively strong after a big beating in 2008. The real trouble was (once again) in financials, notably banks, where the typical bank stock was down some 30% for the month. REITs, or real estate investment trusts, where down almost 20% in January as well, as the real estate bubble just keeps on deflating, wiping out all leveraged players in its wake.
Government spending and support of the collapsing economy has gone into overdrive and can now only be measured in the trillions. Apparently we will find out once and for all if a depression can be prevented by massive government spending. Many major banks’ futures are uncertain at best. Without bailout money, most of the top ten banks would surely have already failed. Why all these bankers didn’t see the trouble brewing in real estate remains a mystery. Surely some deserve to lose their banks, and their jobs. One problem is that for every $1 in government spending the fear factor of an economy in peril is causing perhaps another $1 to not get spent as consumers panic about the future. Investors are just as scared; favoring cash over stocks at levels we’ve never seen. We’d like to see one more large drop and will consider shifting more to stocks on it.
On the positive note, our average portfolio was down 2.39% or less than half the S&P 500’s drop in January 2009…
Nakoma Absolute Return (NARFX) delivered a positive return of 1.5% in a bad month for stocks, a nice showing and more of what we want to see. While we were glad this fund didn’t tank like 95% of the other funds out there, we still weren’t that impressed with the -4.34% return in 2008 – though this return beats almost all stock funds and some bond funds in 2008.
Janus Global Research (JARFX) had another good month relative to the market with a 6.27% drop, helping make up for a bad return during the market’s worst months last year.
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