The new efficiency: 41% of the damage in 16% of the time

Posted by: Howard Silverblatt on March 06, 2008

With today’s 2.20% S&P 500 decline, the index has lost $2.39 trillion in 149 days (103 trading), compared to $5.77 trillion in the 929 days (637) during the 2000-2002 bear market: 41% of the damage in 16% of the time. The sector breakdown however is completely different. While Technology, that had gone up the most in the late 1990s, was the standout decliner during the bear market of 2000-2, this market has spread the damage around (very democratic, especially in an election year). Financials have taken the greatest loss, declining 32.9% since the October 9, 2007 highs, with Telecommunications down 24.1%, Consumer Discretionary off 19.9% and Information Technology off 19.7%. All ten sectors are down YTD and from the October highs, with six of them (plus the index itself) posting an official correction, as defined by at least a 10% decline in price. The best of the ten, Energy, is down 3.11%.

YTD, that’s 9 (20%) up days of at least 1% and 14 (31.1%) down days of at least 1%; which would rank third highest on an annual basis. As far as YTD starts go, we now rank third worst in that.

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