With less than 8 trading days remaining in 2009, we're pretty much sitting on our gains with our fingers crossed. About the only thing that could ruin our year at this point is a terrorist attack on the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree in New York City
Read MoreBy mid-October 2008, the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers had morphed into a far more serious crisis. Bear Stearns was absorbed into JP Morgan in March 2008, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were effectively taken over by the US government in September 2008
Read MoreExactly one year ago, the unexpected failure of Lehman Brothers set off a horrific 6 months for US and world securities markets.
Read MoreThe S&P 500 gained 53.2% in the 6 months since the March 9th bottom. Over the same time frame, the NASDAQ gained 57.1%. These are among the sharpest gains ever recorded for either index (record for the NASDAQ.)
Read MoreThe S&P 500 gained 0.2% in May and is now up 3.2% on the year. Stocks gained 15.9% in Q2, the best quarterly result since 1998. From the low on March 9th through quarter end, stocks generated gains of 36.9%, one of the steepest rallies of the last 80 years.
Read MoreIn the first week of March of this year, millions of Americans opened their February statements, saw that their accounts were down another 20% on the year after falling 38% in 2008, and sold out their stocks for good.
Read MoreMillions of individual investors opened their February statements, saw that their stocks were down 19% on the year and sold out, driving the S&P 500 on March 9th to the lowest level since September 1996.
Read MoreThe S&P 500 financials sector, which includes banks, brokerages and insurance firms, fell 18% in February on top of January's 26.3% decline, for a total decline of 39.6% in the first 9 weeks of 2009.
Read MoreUS stocks rallied 24% between the low set November 20th and January 6th. However, the release of universally dismal economic reports in the United States dropped stocks over 11%, leaving the S&P 500 down 7.4% on the year, and down 47.0% from the record high set in October 2007.
Read MoreIt's hard to overstate how much damage was done to the world's financial systems over the last 4 months.
Read MoreIt was another challenging month for stocks, with three month returns from August 31st through November 20th the worst in 80 years. On November 20th, US stocks closed at a level last seen in April 1997.
Read MoreUS stocks made a 1 month high on November 4th as the 2 ½ year long US presidential election finally came to a close with the widely anticipated election of Barack Obama.
Read MoreAs bad as September was for stocks, October was worse. US investors sold a record $56.0 billion in stock mutual funds in September and set a new record for sales of $70.7 billion in October.
Read MoreEarlier this month, we described the "Great Margin Call of 2008" where investors worldwide sell not because they want to, but because they have to.
Read MoreStocks began the day 1.5% higher following a good earnings report from IBM. As it typical of the whole week, some investors used the opportunity to sell into strength. Even so, by 2PM, the S&P 500 was close to unchanged.
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