By Maxine Shapiro, KERA 90.1 business commentator
Dallas, TX – It's Friday so "It's Only Money," a review of the big and not-so-big stories of the week. I'm Maxine Shapiro with KERA Marketplace Midday.
All right, so the stock market had a really nice day yesterday. The Dow closed up 266 points and the NASDAQ had best first-day-of-the-year ever. That should start analysts talking about the ever so unreliable first five days of January. In the past, as goes the first five days of January, so goes the year. But last year was the exception none of us wanted. In the first five days of 2002, the Dow rose 1.3% and the NASDAQ composite a remarkable 5.4%. On Tuesday of this week, the Dow closed the year down almost 17% while the NASDAQ had the worst year since it's inception down over 30%.
Now let's say most of your investments are or were in stock funds. According to Morningstar Inc., the premier tracker of funds, there are more than 5500 funds to choose from. Guess how many saw any kind of profit last year? 43 - only eight-tenths percent. Now don't you feel better you're not alone?
If it's historic numbers you want, the Wall Street Journal's got 'em. It's been six decades since the Dow industrials posted a loss for three straight years. The last three-year down cycle ended because of World War II. And the one and only time it was extended to four years was at the beginning of the Great Depression. Oh, that's depressing. BUT, 2002 was only the fifteenth worst year in the Dow history. Feel better?
Now let's say you've been living in a desert, underground for the past two years. You felt secure with your investment: over 80% was in Enron. You've come out to see the light of day and you want some answers. Do you go to the Journal or Houston Chronicle or maybe the SEC website? No, you turn to Hollywood, for what better place gives an accurate, historical description on important world events? This Sunday, CBS will present "The Crooked E: The Unshredded Truth About Enron." For KERA Marketplace Midday, I'm Maxine Shapiro.
Marketplace Midday Reports air on KERA 90.1 Monday - Friday at 1:04 p.m. To contact Maxine Shapiro, please send emails to mshapiro@kera.org.