2nd Quarter Market Results

The market for the second quarter was pretty weak especially since we had such a good start with April and May, but this was the worst June since 1930. All three major indices were down for the month of June (Dow -10.2%; S&P 500 -8.6%; and NASDAQ -9.1%). Energy stocks fared well for the quarter, but autos and financials were bleak.

Through June 30 these are the results:

• Dow Jones - YTD it is down 14%, and for the second quarter, it was down 7.1%. The biggest factors in its performance were the financials (AIG, Bank of America, Citigroup, etc.) and General Motors.
• S&P 500 - YTD it is down 12.8%, and for the second quarter, it was down 3.2%. The energy stocks really helped power the index to only being down a little this quarter.
• NASDAQ - YTD it is down 13.6%, and for the second quarter, it was up 0.6%. The tech stocks pushed the index into positive territory if only slightly this quarter with Research in Motion, Apple, and Google all helping out.

Thankfully, being well diversified has helped. The Russell 2000 (small cap) and S&P 400 (mid cap) both were positive for the quarter but down for June.

Commodities seem to be driving the boat right now with the indices reacting either positively on a negative for oil or negatively when oil goes up. It remains to be seem what will break the correlation.

GE announces on Friday, July 11. Since GE has not come out with any pre-announcement news, it has been rumored that they will come in at or better than expectations. If this happens, the market will definitely view it as a positive, we could see a nice rally in the market.