Utilities have joined the other major sectors in a broad equity market decline that began in January. The Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund (Ticker: XLU) began selling off in February and yesterday closed below October lows at $24.55.
After holding up better than other sectors in 2008, Consumer Staples stocks have skidded since the beginning of the year and are now falling below November levels on the way to five year lows. The Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund (Ticker: XLP) closed today at $20.75, below the November 21 intra-day low of $21.40 and at its lowest level since 2004.
After a near-collapse in October, the corporate bond market is back on steady ground while continuing to deliver an attractive yield.
With regulators and law makers bogged down in debate on how to deal with the credit crisis and worsening economy, financial stocks have gyrated wildly since the beginning of year.
As the US equity markets stumbled out of the blocks, gold continued to climb back from its November lows. Despite new leadership in Washington, the continued disappointing economic news resulted in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA) falling 8.8% in January, the worst start to the year in history for the bellweather index.
Hammered by weakness in the banking sector and a rapidly falling currency, UK stocks hit a new low on Friday. The $500 million MSCI United Kingdom Index Fund (EWU) traded as low as $10.09 on Friday before closing at $10.43.
One of the big stories in 2008 was the rise and fall of commodity prices including the biggest commodity of them all – oil. After a short lived comeback at the beginning of 2009, spot prices for oil have dropped back to their December lows and threaten to go lower.
Insurance stocks are up 50% after a near meltdown in November. The KBW Insurance ETF (KIE) is trading near $27 after dropping to $18 on November 20.
After a dramatic decline that began in late September, the Russell 2000 Index climbed 25% to finish 2008 down 30% on the year. The Russell 2000 consists of the 2,000 smallest companies in the Russell 3000 Index which measures the performance of the largest 3,000 U.S. companies representing approximately 98% of the investable U.S. equity market.
After a free fall that saw metals and mining stocks decline over 80% throughout the summer and fall, the sector recovered strongly in December before pulling back towards the end of the month.