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Well,… January Could Have Been a Lot Worse!
By JLP | February 1, 2008
At one point, January 2008 looked like it was going to end up being the worst January in the history of the S&P Index. According to my monthly total returns dating back to 1926, the worst January occured in 1970, with the S&P 500 Index off 7.36%, which was quite a bit worse than this January’s -6% total return. Here’s a look at how the other major indexes performed in January. NOTE: The return for the S&P 500 Index in teh graphic is different from the return above because the graphic does not include dividends.
Although those returns don’t look very good, at one point they were all down over 10%. So, although January 2008 was a month we would all like to forget, it COULD have been a lot worse.
On a lighter note…
January 2008 was THE BEST MONTH EVER for AllFinancialMatters! If my January numbers (both traffic levels and income) are any indication of what the rest of the year has in store, it will be a great year! Of course none of that would be possible without you so pat yourselves on the back and thanks for helping spread the word about AFM. I blog because it is fun but it is also nice to know people are reading.
Topics: Investing | 4 Comments »
February 1st, 2008 at 3:18 am
Hey JLP,
I read your comment about January being your best month ever, traffic wise. I’m just curious if you received a lot of traffic from StumbleUpon, as I stumbled many of your articles there.
And I noticed I was always the first to discover them here, even after they were up for hours, which leads me to believe your readers aren’t Stumblers. Also, my profile on SU is getting stronger and I’m trying to gauge the effects of my stumbling.
Interested to hear your findings.
regards,
Ciaran
February 1st, 2008 at 10:52 am
January has been one of my best months for investment returns – I made a small index fund purchase right after the bottom and since it’s in a new account I can see the actual return from that purchase. It might be the second worst January in history but it’s the first time I’ve gotten 3.43% in under 2 weeks. Like they say, if you try to avoid a down market you’re at risk of missing some of the best days.
February 1st, 2008 at 11:17 am
I definitely agree. January wasn’t exactly a great month for investing, but it could have been way worse (and actually, since all the pronouncements of doom and gloom that brought the 3/4 point rate cut, the markets are up considerably
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Ryan
http://uncommon-cents.net/
February 3rd, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Interesting. Growth stocks did well in 2007 while value stocks tanked. Maybe things will switch this year?