US Markets First Quarter 2008 Performance at a Glance

All ten economic sectors are set to post a loss. Technology is the worst performing sector with a 15.4% decline, with financials close behind with a 14.8% slide. Consumer staples and industrials are relative outperformers with losses of 2.7% and 4.5%, respectively.The weakness in the dollar has captured the market's attention, some arguing it is bad, and some arguing it is good. The DXY Index--a basket of major currencies compared against the dollar--is down 6.5%, which is its largest quarterly decline since 2004. Of the ten major currencies, the Swiss Franc has posted the largest gain of 14.3%. The only major currency to post a loss against the dollar is the Canadian dollar (-3.3%). In emerging currencies, the largest gainer is the Chilean Peso (+14.3%) and the largest decliner is the Iceland Krona (-16.9%). The S&P 400 Mid Cap Index is down 9.4%. Its best performing stock is homebuilder Hovnanian (HOV), up 48.0%. PMI Group (PMI) is down 56.1%, making it the worst performing stock.Seven of the 30 Dow components have posted a gain. Wal-Mart (WMT) is up 11.6%, making it the best performing component. Merck (MRK) is the worst performing component with a 35.0% decline.The small-cap Russell 2000 Index (-9.6%) is performing on par with its large-cap counterparts. Encysive Pharmaceuticals (ENCY) is its best performing stock, with a 175.3% advance. Keryx Biopharmaceuticals (KERX) saw the steepest drop of 92.9%.The Nasdaq 100 is down 14.7%. Its best performing component is biopharm company Celgene (CELG), with a 31.9% gain. The worst performing stock is GPS maker Garmin (GRMN) with a 44.3% drop.The CRB Commodity Index is posting a gain of 8.2%, which is its largest in 2.5 years. However, the index is well off its best levels of the quarter when it was up 17.7%. Natural gas has seen the largest gain of 31.9%, while cattle are posting the largest loss of 15.7%. Crude oil is up 7.7%, but was up as much as 16.5% when it hit its all-time high of $111.80 per barrel.The U.S. stock market’s weakness has garnered a lot of negative press, although it is actually outperforming most of the major world stock markets. The S&P 500’s 9.8% drop is better than returns on France’s CAC (-16.2%), Germany’s DAX (-19.0%), London’s FTSE (-11.7%), Japan’s Nikkei (-18.2%), China's CSI 300 (-29.0%) and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng (-17.8%). Of the 90 primary world stock market indices, 21 have posted a gain. Ghana is leading the way with a 15.4% advance. The Vietnam Stock Index is the worst performing with a 44.2% drop.The best performing S&P 500 industry group has been trucking (+29%)--its only component is Ryder System (R).Of the S&P 500's 130 industry groups, 109 have posted a loss. The worst performing group is education services (-41%), which got clipped after traders were displeased with results from for-profit education provider Apollo (APOL).The S&P 500 is down 10.2%. The worst performing stock is Bear Stearns (BSC) with a 88% decline. Rumors of liquidity problems caused a run on the bank, causing it to sell itself to JPMorgan for $2 per share to avoid bankruptcy. The offer was later raised to $10 per share.Only 110 S&P 500 stocks are in the green. The best performing S&P 500 stock has been Big Lots (BIG) with a 40.2% gain."The end result is that the S&P 500 extended its losing streak to five consecutive months - the longest such losing streak since 1990."

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