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%…
To Our Clients and Friends of Parthenon LLC The S&P 500 finished the first half of the year with a modest total return, including dividends, of 2.71%. The overall results give an impression of placidity, but belie the turbulence the equity markets have experienced since spring. The relative calm of the first quarter gave way…
To Our Clients and Friends of Parthenon LLC The S&P 500 finished the first half of the year with a modest total return, including dividends, of 2.71%. The overall results give an impression of placidity, but belie the turbulence the equity markets have experienced since spring. The relative calm of the first quarter gave way…
The stock market fought, and barely won, the battle in 2005 against dramatically rising energy costs and relentless Federal Reserve interest rate increases. For the year, the S&P 500 with dividends was up a modest 4.9%. The Dow Jones Industrial average was down fractionally before dividends, but up 1.7% including dividends. During the year oil…
To Our Clients and Friends of Parthenon LLC The market was unable to make any headway in the first half of the year. Much like the stone continuously pushed up the hill by the mythical Sisyphus, every advance was ultimately rolled back. The primary culprit was higher oil prices. Investor fears of the potential widening…
To Our Clients and Friends of Parthenon LLC The S&P 500 returned 10.87%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average a modest 5.30% (both with dividends re-invested) for the year. It would be tempting to refer to this as a “normal” year since total returns were close to the historic average for the broad equity market.…
To Our Clients and Friends of Parthenon LLC After three years of painful declines for the average equity investor, it was again pleasurable to own stocks in 2003. The S&P 500 rose 28.7%, including dividends. This was the strongest advance for the broad index since 1997. The gains were fueled by an economic acceleration, which…
To Our Clients and Friends of Parthenon LLC In spite of turbulent economic news and geopolitical events, the equity and bond markets were subdued in the first half of the year. The major stock market indices made little headway for the period, and volatility was mild by recent standards. The S&P 500 rose 3.44%, while…