To Our Clients and Friends of Parthenon LLC The S&P 500 rose 9.5% in the first half, effectively delivering an average year’s total return in only six months though investor’s displayed little exuberance over the positive results. The beginning of 2012 was one of the most uncomfortable and angst- filled strong periods we can recall.…
To Our Clients and Friends of Parthenon LLC The S&P 500 started the year at 1257.64. The S&P 500 finished the year at 1257.60. If you followed the markets with more than just a passing interest in 2011, you would be forgiven for initially doubting those facts. After such a violent ride, with so many…
To Our Clients and Friends of Parthenon LLC 2010 Market Indices Results: Standard & Poor’s 500 15.1% Dow Jones Industrial Average 14.1% The broad equity markets moved solidly higher in 2010, propelled by a combination of strong corporate earnings growth and improving investor sentiment. The markets’ strength occurred within a global economic environment that did…
To Our Clients and Friends of Parthenon LLC After beginning the year with a strong first quarter performance, the stock market finished the first half down following a very weak second quarter. For the year through June, the S & P 500, with dividends, was down 6.65%. Investors grew concerned in the second quarter about…
To Our Clients and Friends of Parthenon LLC 2009 Market Indices Results: Standard & Poor’s 500 26.5% Dow Jones Industrial Average 22.7% As the above results illustrate, the past year was pleasant for equity investors and provided some salve to the wounds inflicted by the bear market. But if you feel the decade just ended…
To Our Clients and Friends of Parthenon LLC The first six months of 2009 provided investors with an exhilarating ride as the S&P 500 plunged over 25% by March, to the lowest level in over a decade, then roared back 40% by the end of the second quarter. After the excitement ended, the net result…
To Our Clients and Friends of Parthenon LLC We always begin our year-end letters with a brief review of the relevant investment statistics for the year. We will continue that tradition, although we recognize that few investors need the specifics to appreciate the extraordinary events in the capital markets. In 2008, the investment news became…
To Our Clients and Friends of Parthenon LLC The weight of the challenges facing the U. S. economy took a heavy toll on the equity markets in the first half of the year. The S&P 500 fell 11.92%, the weakest first half since 2002. From its October 2007 high to the low reached in July,…
To Our Clients and Friends of Parthenon LLC Although 2007 was a year of growing market volatility and economic angst, the returns for the broad market were only moderately below the long-term average. Hidden behind the broad numbers were some extremely wide divergences in business and stock performance across industries and companies. The S&P 500,…
To Our Clients and Friends of Parthenon LLC After a nearly flat first quarter, the stock market moved solidly higher in the second quarter. The S&P 500 was up, with dividends, 6.24% and is up 6.99%, with dividends, through mid-year. Bond prices fell and yields rose with the ten-year Treasury bond yield rising to 5.03%…