Market Summary

With light trading as demonstrated by low volume days during this shortened week it was not a good one for the markets overall. Again, only gold managed to hold on to some gains while for the year it is about flat. That however is far better than the broad market which is down nearly 40% year to date. With next week a shortened week also it is not likely that the 40% number will be reduced by very much. The worst year on record for the S&P 500 was 1931 where the market was down 43.34%. The next worst year was 1937 where the market was down 35.03%. If the market is to close out the year at it current level that will make it the second worst year on record. Historic Calendar Year Returns for the S&P500 can be found here.
Next to gold, the Russell 2000 index performed the second best last week down only 0.50%. That is a somewhat bullish sign but what the future has in store we will just have to wait and see. Click on table to enlarge.